No matter what, if there is money involved a scam is not far behind. There is a new fraud going around, this one promising a huge gift certificate to a serious store and it's going around by text message. Mainly it's a phishing fraud, but it's one of the more innocuous of gift card frauds.
Text-message gift certificate con
People spend just as much time attempting to fraud people as they would in a real job making legitimate cash. It is a real shame that these scammers do not spend more time trying to put their skills to good use rather than acting as criminals.
Of course, that won't take place.
There is a new texting con going around involving gifts cards. The one most recently noticed has been sending texts to consumers offering $1,000 gift cards to large retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Walmart. According to Daily Finance, it is a good idea.
Occurring again
The SMS phishing scam promises up to $1,000 or more on a gift certificate if an individual goes to a website and enters a code. This is all promised in a text message.
The consumer really just gets their personal info sent to a huge black market marketing list. Then, they get all types of emails sent to them for fake things.
Scambook.com sent over 300,000 messages to people for the gift certificate con, according to Daily Finance, which might lead to class-action suits. There have already been 2 lawyers who have filled out suits against the business, according to NBC Los Angeles. We are not taking this sitting down.
Better con than many
This is just one of numerous gift certificate frauds over the years, but that's a relatively mild one. For instance, according to WBAY, a Green Bay, Wisconsin, ABC affiliate, one con involves some pretty heinous credit card fraud. Fraudsters get a hold of a charge card number, then purchase a number of gift cards for large amounts, usually a few thousand dollars' worth. Scammers tell a cashier their charge card cannot be swiped, so they have them enter the stolen number manually. Then they have the balance transferred to a prepaid debit card and withdraw the cash.
That con actually occurred at a Walmart where more than $80,000 in cash was stolen, according to MLive. Cashier Erica Shontae Walker is waiting for her punishment as an accomplice to the crime.
A 2011 Fox Business article showed that there was another way for criminals. They would write down gift card numbers and wait until it was acquired. Then, they would spend all the cash online.
Text-message gift certificate con
People spend just as much time attempting to fraud people as they would in a real job making legitimate cash. It is a real shame that these scammers do not spend more time trying to put their skills to good use rather than acting as criminals.
Of course, that won't take place.
There is a new texting con going around involving gifts cards. The one most recently noticed has been sending texts to consumers offering $1,000 gift cards to large retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Walmart. According to Daily Finance, it is a good idea.
Occurring again
The SMS phishing scam promises up to $1,000 or more on a gift certificate if an individual goes to a website and enters a code. This is all promised in a text message.
The consumer really just gets their personal info sent to a huge black market marketing list. Then, they get all types of emails sent to them for fake things.
Scambook.com sent over 300,000 messages to people for the gift certificate con, according to Daily Finance, which might lead to class-action suits. There have already been 2 lawyers who have filled out suits against the business, according to NBC Los Angeles. We are not taking this sitting down.
Better con than many
This is just one of numerous gift certificate frauds over the years, but that's a relatively mild one. For instance, according to WBAY, a Green Bay, Wisconsin, ABC affiliate, one con involves some pretty heinous credit card fraud. Fraudsters get a hold of a charge card number, then purchase a number of gift cards for large amounts, usually a few thousand dollars' worth. Scammers tell a cashier their charge card cannot be swiped, so they have them enter the stolen number manually. Then they have the balance transferred to a prepaid debit card and withdraw the cash.
That con actually occurred at a Walmart where more than $80,000 in cash was stolen, according to MLive. Cashier Erica Shontae Walker is waiting for her punishment as an accomplice to the crime.
A 2011 Fox Business article showed that there was another way for criminals. They would write down gift card numbers and wait until it was acquired. Then, they would spend all the cash online.
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Thank You for your interest !