A lot of people are buying gift cards this time of year. Of course thieves know that as well, so there are some gift card scams that you should know about.
One thing crooks will do is go into the stores and grab a bunch of gift cards off the rack and then “surgically remove” the glue that’s on top of the barcodes. They write down the pins, hide the barcodes again with more glue and bring the cards back to the stores. When the money is loaded on the card, the thieves get it instead of the person that you're gifting it to.
If you receive a gift card that has a zero balance, you definitely want to tell the person who gave it to you.
Another thing thieves are doing is heating up the envelope so that they can open it and carefully take the card out. They actually cut the top of the card off and then put it back and reseal it. Then they bring it back to the store, and the minute that card is loaded, they have that information. The thief would then test the barcodes they stole every day to see if money has been loaded on that number.
Experts say when you're buying a gift card you should check it over. If it looks like it's been tampered with at all you don't want to take that one. And make sure you alert the store so that they don't sell it to anyone else.
Source: ABC Los Angeles
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