$200 gift visa credit card scam

[amdorintel]

https://globalnews.ca/news/6310084/alberta-prepaid-gift-card-scam/

 

the tv news report (the video) does not tell how the woman purchased the card. the article states she purchased it at a store.

 

Quote

Stephen and Tia Hagen bought a $200 “The Perfect Gift” card for their daughter who lives in B.C.

 

Quote

It scanned just fine at the till when they purchased it.

ok at which store was that at?

a national store or a independant corner store.

 

 

very vague news reporting.

 

 

 

 

 

[Slottr]

-Moved to Off Topic-

This isn't tech news, and you just barely skimmed by on the posting guidelines.

[amdorintel]

1 minute ago, Caroline said:

Uhh wasn't it easier to just hand the $200 to whoever she wanted to gift?

if was a gift for someone in another city, a present, so something physical was preferred rather then a bank transfer, or cheque.

 

its interesting as fuck that its never mentioned where the young mom purchased the card from. my first thought was it was a classified ad for a $200 gift card, and she pay only $150 and i'm sure people buy those all the time.

 

with the intrepid news reporting of a "legitimate" news outfit, its sure got a large wiff of FAKE NEWS!

 

now as i mentioned, a second thought was maybe she purchased it from an independent store, like a corner store convenience store, or sometimes the ethnic stores will sell them too, camoflauge them next to the long distance cards, though nothing like that is official at all, no credit card company would allow official purchases like that, though i wouldnt know as i dont frequent ethnic stores at all.

 

 

[amdorintel]

2 minutes ago, Caroline said:

payd 150 4 200 bc dat how moni worx hehe

well usually that is the gift card was purchased using a real credit card thats been comrpimised and the person is in a parking lot trying to sell the gift card and the thief tells you to call the # to confirm. Or its for sale in the classified ads.

 

i think the $150 for $200 is more popular then we give it credit for (pardon the pun).

[kpluck]

Don't gift cards like that have to be activated at checkout when purchased? At least that is how it has worked for me when I purchased one. Otherwise, people could easily shoplift them.

 

The story states "It scanned just fine at the till when they purchased it." I think that girl is lying. She probably bought it from some person off craigslist or fell for some sort of parking lot scam and came up with this story hoping people would fall for it, feel sorry for her, and send her money. Or maybe it wasn't a scam at all and she knew what it was and thought she con people into giving her money.

 

-ws

[amdorintel]

All valid arguments for nay and yay, but since the article is very vague in which what store it was purchased from, then who really knows what the true story is. It could very well be a scam on the "victims" part wanting to get $200 and most likely a lot more then that from the public.

10 hours ago, kpluck said:

Don't gift cards like that have to be activated at checkout when purchased? At least that is how it has worked for me when I purchased one. Otherwise, people could easily shoplift them.

 

The story states "It scanned just fine at the till when they purchased it." I think that girl is lying. She probably bought it from some person off craigslist or fell for some sort of parking lot scam and came up with this story hoping people would fall for it, feel sorry for her, and send her money. Or maybe it wasn't a scam at all and she knew what it was and thought she con people into giving her money.

 

-ws

 

 

 

 

 

[RonnieOP]

This is why i refuse to use cash for any company.

 

I know alot of the scams that people do. Its amazing how smart even low level thugs have gotten.

 

Unless im buying off craigslist you better take a credit card or im not giving you my business. Cash has no protection. Credit cards do. 

 

Also i find these cards kinda pointless these days. In the US usually you have to pay $5-10 extra for a prepaid card. With things like cashapp and venmo i would rather send them money that way instead of a prepaid card.

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

This is why i refuse to use cash for any company.

 

I know alot of the scams that people do. Its amazing how smart even low level thugs have gotten.

 

Unless im buying off craigslist you better take a credit card or im not giving you my business. Cash has no protection. Credit cards do. 

 

Also i find these cards kinda pointless these days. In the US usually you have to pay $5-10 extra for a prepaid card. With things like cashapp and venmo i would rather send them money that way instead of a prepaid card.

You only pay extra for prepaid credit cards. Gift cards are usually at no extra cost. 

[RonnieOP]

5 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

You only pay extra for prepaid credit cards. Gift cards are usually at no extra cost. 

yea but thats what they bought. A visa prepaid card right?

[amdorintel]

4 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

yea but thats what they bought. A visa prepaid card right?

supposedly they bought a prepaid credit card from a display in a store, where the public can browse the options available to them.

those cards usually come with hefty fee's, usually a monthly fee which adds up, sometimes a per transaction fee, plus various other fee's which all adds up. its a very lucrative business to be in!

the victim in the story wanted to give a physical gift of money, hence the pp cc.

a store gift card, has no fee's and no security neither, the pp cc's are suppose to have security, hence the visa and mastercard brand name and reputation, but who knows what the fine print states as no one reads it

 

[RonnieOP]

2 minutes ago, amdorintel said:

supposedly they bought a prepaid credit card from a display in a store, where the public can browse the options available to them.

those cards usually come with hefty fee's, usually a monthly fee which adds up, sometimes a per transaction fee, plus various other fee's which all adds up. its a very lucrative business to be in!

the victim in the story wanted to give a physical gift of money, hence the pp cc.

a store gift card, has no fee's and no security neither, the pp cc's are suppose to have security, hence the visa and mastercard brand name and reputation, but who knows what the fine print states as no one reads it

 

Yea thats what i thought.

 

Which i find kinda pointless. With as many apps we have these days it would be much easier (and cheaper) just to send the money.

 

Or deposit money into their bank account directly. idk how banks work in other countries but in the states anyone random person can deposit money in anyones account if they know the account number. Just walk into the bank and fill out a deposit slip and hand the teller the cash.