(Courtesy: Sergeant Barry Duggan of Pinole Police Department/Facebook)
American authorities posted a FaceBook video showcasing how to detect if a gift card has been tampered with before purchasing it.
The Pinole Police Department in California posted a safety alert video Facebook earlier this month to spread awareness on how to avoid being tricked into purchasing gift cards that have been potentially tampered with. The video has garnered 522,000 views since the time of publication.
“When the person buys the card, they have a barcode that is visible on the outside of the envelope, this is what’s scanned at the register and this is what you use your money for in order to pay for the card,” Sergeant Barry Duggan said.
In the video, Duggan demonstrates in a store what to inspect when purchasing a gift card.
He also explained that scammers will open the gift card package, cut part of the gift card off with the barcode and replace it back was the bottom half of the card so the cashier can scan at the register.
The Brandon Gonez Show contacted Toronto Police Services asking how people can avoid being victim to this scam and these were their tips:
- When purchasing a gift card, check the receipt at the time of purchase and compare data on (the) receipt to the numbers on the card.
- Physically examine the gift card for signs of tampering.
- Use a gift card immediately after it’s purchased.
- Avoid buying gift cards online or checking gift card balances on websites that are not the store’s official website.
“The best way to detect this particular method is, as described in the video, examine closely the packaging for signs of tampering,” Detective David Coffey from the Financial Crimes Unit said in an email statement.
“Opening them in the store after purchase would be great too but is not very practical if the Gift Card is a gift for someone else. Feeling for the size of the card is somewhat effective. Checking the receipt is still recommended as, in the cases of bar code duplication, it is still the best way to ensure you’re buying a legitimate card,” he added.
Coffey also mentioned that cutting off the barcode from the gift card is a relatively new technique but reports of that have been made in the Greater Toronto Area too.
“It goes to show how criminals evolve and change their methods in response to police actions,” he added.
He also mentioned it’s not as common for Toronto authorities to receive many calls regarding gift card fraud because some people tend to leave their unused gift cards in their wallets for months without realizing whether they used it or not.
“Our Central Fraud Intake Office (CFIO) has received over 250 fraud reports involving gift cards with damages over $1.3 million. Often times these reports involve large amounts of gift cards resulting in this large number,” Coffey said.
Coffey added that he’ll take into consideration uploading a similar post like The Pinole Police Department did to spread awareness of gift card frauds too.
