BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Seven in 10 people plan on purchasing at least one gift card this season, bringing sales of the most-convenient of presents to more than $131 billion for the year, according to the National Retail Federation.
But shoppers aren't the only ones interested in gift cards—thieves are also cashing in on the trend with a variety of sophisticated scams that can drain a gift card before it’s even been purchased, explained Bill Hardekopf, CEO at LowCards.com.
“No longer considered the last refuge of the holiday procrastinator, gift cards now extend far beyond favorite department stores or restaurants. But as the variety and personalization of gift cards have grown, so have the scams,” he said.
Here are three ways scammers are targeting gift cards, according to NBC News:
Thieves simply grab a stack of cards from the carousel or display rack, scan the magnetic chip codes using a card reader—that is readily available online—then slide the cards back on the rack. The scammer then monitors the merchant's website to see when the card is activated and goes on a shopping spree or cashes out the card on a gift card trading site.
Thieves can open up card sleeves and copy down the numbers, or scratch off the PIN and affix their own fake PIN code and scratch-off patch, NBC News explained. “Scammers have also been known to replace packaged cards with used cards: Once the gift card is sold and activated, the buyer has the worthless card and the scammer has the brand new one.”
Finally, an unscrupulous cashier may swap a card a customer hands over to activate and gives back a blank card.