{"id":2860,"date":"2018-10-01T19:22:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T01:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kraftgrp.com\/new-gift-card-scam-hits-just-in-time-for-the-holidays\/"},"modified":"2018-10-01T19:22:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T01:22:51","slug":"new-gift-card-scam-hits-just-in-time-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kraftgrp.com\/new-gift-card-scam-hits-just-in-time-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"New Gift Card Scam Hits Just In Time For The Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s a new Gift Card scam going around that has already cost consumers lots of money, frustration, and headaches. Here\u2019s how it works.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll get an email from a friend or relative asking you to go buy them a gift card. The email will say that your friend or relative has been busy or sick and unable to get to the store. Once you get the card for them, they\u2019ll ask you to take a quick photo of the gift card code on the back and send it to them. Once you do this, they can cash out the gift card and you lose your money. It happens just that quickly.<\/p>\n
Can You Help Out a Friend?<\/strong><\/p>\n This scam has been working well for several reasons. Usually, the email comes from someone you know, maybe a sibling, parent, or aunt. Of course, you want to help them out, right? But one thing many consumers don\u2019t realize is just how simple it is to hijack an email account. This is easy work for any hacker worth his salt.<\/p>\n For some reason, people just believe that the email is legit and never take that extra step of calling their friend or relative and just asking them, \u201cHey, did you send me an email about buying you a gift card?\u201d That\u2019s all it would take to avoid being a victim here.<\/p>\n Instead, most people will run down to Walmart or Target, buy the gift card, take the photo of the code on the back and think they\u2019re doing a great favor for someone.<\/p>\n After you send the pic of the code back to the hacker, they will move very quickly to cash out the gift card and you\u2019ll lose all your money. Later, of course, you\u2019ll learn that your friend did not make such a request and now you feel silly for not double checking. After all, we should we savvier than that as consumers, right?<\/p>\n New Apps Make Scamming Much Easier<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, these types of scams have been working well for many years. Plus, new apps like Raise make it easy to turn unused gift card balances into money.<\/p>\n Though victims do sometimes reach out to local police for help, this is actually not a crime. I know that most people are stunned by that news, but it\u2019s true. Because you were a willing participant and you initiated the action with intent, no fraud was committed. So now you\u2019re out the cost of the gift card and there\u2019s really nothing you can do about it.<\/p>\n Just In Time For the Holidays<\/strong><\/p>\n Authorities are warning consumers that this scam will be prolific all throughout the holidays. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to spread the word. Let your friends and family know that if they get a request like this from you or anyone, be sure to stop and call the person. Ask them if they really sent the email asking for a gift card. It only takes a couple of minutes to do this and it can save you $50 or $100 bucks.<\/p>\n Other Scams to Watch Out for During the Holidays<\/strong><\/p>\n Hackers infamously took over the Rio Summer Olympics a few years back using social engineering to exploit the event. Though some were shocked, social engineering has been around awhile and is used every day to trick business owners. This scam costs Americans millions of dollars each year and hackers find new ways to make their tricks even more effective.<\/p>\n Phishing Scams<\/strong><\/p>\n Used more frequently than any other, phishing scams have become so widespread that it\u2019s difficult to get accurate results of the losses incurred.<\/p>\n PhishMe is reporting that these scams are\u00a0growing by at least 65% per year<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kaspersky Labs claims that during the first quarter of 2018, its anti-phishing system\u00a0prevented more than 107 million attempts to connect users to malicious websites<\/a>.<\/p>\n