NEW YORK—Credit unions might want to warn members about the growing risk of buying gift cards off a rack.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that gift cards were a top target for scammers, leading to a reported $148 million stolen from consumers in 2021, according to Huffpost.
“Scammers will target display racks of gift cards, especially when the rack is out of sight from cashiers or pharmacy counters. They will then tamper with the packaging to take off any film strip, record the gift card and pin number, and then cover up their tampering,” Huffpost explained.
Some scammers have even used fake barcodes as a sticker covering up the gift card’s real barcode.
“Then, they set up a computer program that has an algorithm that follows those cards,” Huffpost continued. “And when any of those cards are manipulated like that go to the register for activation, that criminal is pinged, and they are able to drain the funds off of that card.”
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