Gift card scams

December 15, 2023 – FOX 31 Denver

Police say scammers are using new techniques to tamper with gift cards, including draining the card that you haven’t even bought yet. Fox 31 spoke with Victor Wieczorek, VP of Threat & Attack Simulation and Application Security at GuidePoint Security:

“We’re seeing a lot of interesting ways that these scammers are getting gift cards. Some of the ways are tried and true over the past few years, but we’re seeing this new technique where scammers are looking at those numbers, especially the concealed PIN on the back of the card, noting those down and then checking them frequently enough so that when someone does purchase it, they’re trying to race that person to use the gift card before they can.”

When asked what buyers should look out for, Victor said, “Looking for tampering is obviously the key way. We look for areas where the numbers could have been disclosed, where someone scratched off the protective covering on the back that covers the PIN, but then of course, there are other things we can do like checking the sealed packaging, making sure you’re looking to ensure that’s completely closed and no one could have peeked inside to see what those numbers are. and sometimes people go the extra mile to reach back in the stack of gift cards and pull from the the middle of the group are from the back of the group just reduce the chance of anybody pulling from the front and noting those numbers down.”