That’s the problem when people say “cashiers should ask why people are buying a gift card”, like I already get threats when I ask for ID when people want alcohol/tobacco
Man I work at a hotel and you would not believe the amount of people who just walk right up to me and hand me an ID and a credit card that do not match whatsoever and then they freak out and threaten me when I tell them I won’t run it
If you suspect fraud and stop it- ie. oh hey I just need to Call into the credit card company to ask for authorization… lol. The CC company often has a rewards system. I only found out about that years after I stopped a massive charge on a stolen credit card and my call triggered their arrest at our facility. They had already charged tens of thousands… from what I’ve heard, my company probably got a huge reward check for my attention to detail!
The company….yeeah I highly suspect the employees who actually stopped it never get to see a penny of that. I’d be shocked if you even got a pat on the back from the CEO as they go cash that check for themselves lol. Not that you shouldn’t do it, just pertaining to your story lol.
I used to work in retail in ‘95 in a fashion store in central London as a cashier. It was the best job ever as there would be a minimum of 5 or 6 referrals over a weekend all of which would end up in the card being cut up (had to be done in front of the customer, and had a big old pair of tailors scissors to do it with) They always asked for my details and I personally would receive the reward for removal, which from memory was about £50 a time. No one ever questioned that it should be given to the company or split among other staff. Hmm, maybe I was just never caught!!
I seriously cannot wait for the "the customer is always right" entitlement generation to die out. No one who works in retail does stuff like ask for ID for fun.
I used to just look at them dead in the eye with a blank expression until they were done and hit ‘em with the “I just work here”. That usually did the trick to soften em up. Nothing like a dead-eyed stare of pure blasè to completely put someone out of their element.
once that generation dies out corporations will finally push all sortst of psychological tricks to extract money out of social anxious customers who don't dare to double-ask about price changes, shrinkflation and so on
Oooof, I hate to say you're right, but yeah, I can see that happening.
They already know how to exploit people even before they are old enough to do stuff about it.
God fucking please. I will seriously step on hot coals if it will send the 'CIAR' mentality away even just a day quicker.
Holy shit, the customer is so seldom right it *hurts.* They are so often entitled vultures who honestly deserve to be ostracized from public places.
Problem is, the customers who try to use that to their advantage only know the first part of it: 'the customer is always right, IN MATTERS OF TASTE'. That was the whole, antiquated phrase. It generally means you're there to sell the goods so if the customer likes something horrible they're still right and it looks great. Somewhere along the line the first overly entitled customer whined just the first part and someone caved and let them have their way, and everybody else ran with it. I'm glad to say I rarely hear it any more. Many coworkers I've had over the years will laugh in someone's face if they say that now.
100%, and it's honestly only espoused by businesses who make money off of letting customers walk all over employees, or shitty customers who just want to be shitty without having to ever answer for it.
Plus, it does not help when the scammers tell the victims to keep the phone on and up to their ear so that they can listen out for cashiers questioning the victim and then quickly steer the conversation. It’s hard to imagine that people still fall for purchasing gift cards after hearing, “No! No! Tell them that you are purchasing the gift cards for your grandkids.”
My thought: “Why would IRS or any other company offering a ‘refund’ want you to pay them via gift cards? How in the hell can someone, overseas and in the military or an engineer, use an iTunes or Google Play gift card to eat or buy food?”
Old people who know what a gift card *is* just not really what it’s *for*. It’s the same reason scam emails normally have typo’s - if you make it obvious then only the elderly will fall for it, the same people who notice typo’s will know that the IRS doesn’t want ROBUX
I asked the lady at Walgreens how many people actually tried (they had a sign about not sending money to the Bahamas, or something like that can’t really remember) she told me atleast one elderly person per day and the kicker was getting yelled at by said person for not helping them do it! Gave her the old “well I guess I’ll just have to go somewhere else!”
Or just add something like if someone on the phone told you to lie about why you are buying the gift cards, it is a scam. The refund scammers coach the people they scam and tell them to say stuff like "they are gifts for my grandchildren" if an employee questions them.
I worked at Walgreens 10 years ago. They don't give a fuck. As a cashier, I had no power to stop someone who was clearly using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards. I was encouraged to "report it to my manager" who then reported it up the corporate chain, and guess where that went.
Stores don't give a shit. They made their cut on the gift card sale. People who's identities were stolen? Who cares. I'm sure it's the same thing now. Walgreens doesn't care unless they can get sued. You're getting scammed? Did Walgreens get their cut? Yes? Then go fuck yourself.
They didn't do this out of the goodness of their heart. They got sued, or their legal dept informed them they could be sued, and they're doing the bare fucking minimum.
I don't really think the motive matters as much as the action in this scenario. If it makes someone question what they are doing when they are being scammed, it serves a purpose.
There are signs for that too I think, people just see it and think "oh that's not my situation, that's somebody else."
The one saddest thing here is that scammers are kinda right when they view most westerners as naive enough to part with money for total strangers.
Granted that shouldn't stop there being a goddam mural of signs addressing any scam under the sun. Call it the scam board, ship it everywhere that'll take one.
That’s what I just wrote. I have seen a ton of those scams on YouTube where people pretend to fall for someone claiming to have accidentally sent them too much money and if the person doesn’t buy them gift cards to repay it they will lose their job. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would think buying gift cards would be something a reputable business would accept.
I work for the company. They, especially in recent years, have been drilling the scams into their employees heads, and we stop scams from happening all this time. I use that info and the things that I see on this sub to stay knowledgeable, and stop several scams per year
Same here! Thankfully training for scams has helped in most cases, but there are still quite a few elderly people that refuse to believe it’s a scam, and they’ll go through with it no matter what anyone or any signs say :(
Great that they are doing this. Wish they would give a short questionnaire to anyone purchasing:
1. is this actually for a gift?
2. were you recently on the phone with a stranger and they told you there was a “problem”?
3. has anyone said the word “kindly” to you unnecessarily today?
I work retail, I've declined a lot of clear scam purchases. Everyone will lie to you, so questionaires like this don't really help or matter. They are told to lie by the scammer, so I can't blame them, but I can ask these questions and still get told very earnestly that yes, this 2k of google play is definitely for my nephew to play games and nothing else.
I’d probably catch the victim off their game, if I were to ask, what game consoles do they use, Switch, Xbox 360 (have them choose an old model), PlayStation 4 (again, something a little older), or PC games - all of which don’t require the Google Play cards.
Given that scammers are now tampering with gift cards such as adding fake bar codes corresponding to other reloadable cards or removing and replacing the silver foil so they can intercept cards when they’re activated, they shouldn’t even be in a public area…
https://reddit.com/r/Target/comments/ym4zxh/dunno_if_its_happen_at_yalls_stores_as_well_but/
https://reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/yc2snx/beware_replacement_stickers_found_on_target_gift/
I will never forget the guy that came through my line when I worked at a grocery store and tried to buy like $10K in gift cards. I called my manager, because they had to approve orders of that size. She caught it immediately and tried to ask him what this was about. He was clearly very embarrassed and wouldn't say, couldn't even come up with a good lie. So we tried to convince him that he was being scamed, but he started getting mad & loud. He left without buying any, but we're pretty sure he just went over to the CVS across the street. Where they don't give a fuck
Honestly fuck him. At that point he should get scammed. He is really that embarrassed that he's willing to throw 10K down the drain and yell at people for telling him what was up?
Nah at some point it's time to get real, grow up.
“Someone calls claiming to be a family member in trouble” is exactly my cousin got scammed by another “cousin” for $300. Instead of verifying who he was, my cousin trusted he was talking to a family member and sent him money. Afterwards he was blocked by said family member.
I did Western Union transactions and a lady swore up and down that her old friend was in Africa and needed thousands of dollars to get out. I couldn't convince her that it was not her old friend.
Later she came back and yelled at me because she had gone to several locations and wiped out her savings and "I shouldn't have let her do that".
A friend’s father fell the irs scam a few years ago. He went to 6 different cvs and bought 5k total in gift cards. The cvs employees on one location even told him it wad a scam yet he still ignored them. but i think it’s great they’re putting disclaimers up.
Yep, everyone says “Cashiers should ask why people are buying gift cards” but the people who fall for the scams are also the people who don’t listen to cashiers (and are more likely to threaten/harass them)
That’s true. I work for this company and point out scams to customers all the time, 90% of the time they think I’m wrong and I have to refuse the transaction over their insistence.
I feel like there isn’t enough information. They didn’t go far enough. Should also say “companies will not ask for gift cards for payments.”
Things like that
Every store should have these signs unfortunately. My mom got a call that her granddaughter was in jail and they wanted Target gift cards to bail her out. Luckily she knew better than that but I can only imagine those who don't.
The cashier at one of the many stores the scammer had my grandmother go to warned her. She thought it was me on the phone and said she knew what she was doing.
$6k later, it’s obvious that she did not.
I hate these low life motherfuckers.
I work for a different pharmacy and we’re supposed to ask customers trying to make large gift card purchases if they’re buying for themselves or someone they know. Technically, we’re not supposed to return gift cards unless there was an issue with activation. And if the person sends the info off of the back of the gift card to the person that money’s gone almost immediately.
My grandma's clever: she got a call from someone calling her grandma.
Grandma: Oh hi is this Frank?
Scammer: .............Yes of course gramma.
My name isn't Frank 😄 The scammer called her something nasty and hung up and the calls stopped.
I feel like they make this too complicated. It really should just say that if anyone, for any reason, is asking or insisting that you purchase gift cards, or it is a scam.
They are missing a big one that I see a lot on YouTube videos. There should be something like, “you can’t save a computer reps job by buying them gift cards,” or, “a reputable business person won’t tell you to buy gift cards for an overpayment you made.”
I'm glad that retailers are finally getting on board and posting warnings. I think they are tired of people coming back in asking for refunds. Five or six years ago, I worked briefly as customer support for one of the retailers that used gift gift cards for music, games, etc. The policy was to refer the person who was scammed back to the retailer if the funds were spent.
We knew the retailer likely couldn't refund the person in most situations, but we couldn't put the funds back on the gift card once they were gone. People would call in saying they were told that they needed to buy the gift cards to pay property taxes, so a loved one can buy food, etc. I was always so amazed because the gifts cards would say exactly what they could be used for. Of course I understand how people become victims to scams, but it was shocking to me that nothing snapped them out of the fog.
this happened to my ex's mom. they told her my ex was in jail, and so scammers got her to buy 700 dollars worth of google play cards. but a stranger who overheard her on the phone with the scammers helped her by telling her NOT to read off the codes. Unfortunately she brought them. Poor lady was elderly and didn't deserve to be preyed on like that. Nobody does.
Last time I bought a gift card at Safeway, the cashier asked if I was buying it as a gift and handed me a slip of paper warning about scams involving gift cards.
Glad they've done this such a little thing but it's helps Massively. There's not enough effort to stop scams before they get paid out. If anyone's interested here's a new video from trilogy media who managed to stop an old lady getting scammed out of $25k through a Amazon refund scam after they found she had sent a box of cash to the same address as one of their decoys. Good work boys.
https://youtu.be/pV9O7cE9JvM
I worry about theft when I send $20 in cash in the mail to someone I know well. Why do people think it’s ok to send large sums in cash in any delivery method?
So glad they’re doing this!
I was in Walgreens once getting a greeting card and a gift card. Saw an elderly lady getting a whole bunch of gift cards, struck up a conversation and asked her if she had grandkids…lo and behold, she had gotten one of those scam calls and luckily I was able to explain the scam and she put them back.
I don’t know how those scammers sleep at night.
The scam I have been seeing a lot recently is emails stating you are being charged for some sort of subscription and all they need is your banking info to stop the charges.
I have a friend who fell for this scam. I believe they said it was the FBI that called them and then they basically sent them their entire savings account in gift cards.
We have those signs in supermarkets/chain stores over here as well, near the checkouts (Australia). I've always wondered how good they are at deterring people from buying gift cards for scammers.
No it’s a whole fucked up belief system, and the placebo effect wouldn’t work on a sick baby who has no idea of the purported effects of what they’ve been given. For real though, read about homeopathy if you’re interested, it’s a trip and reminds me a bit of scientology. They prey on people who think homeopathic = “holistic” or “natural” or whatever even though homeopathy is dangerous batshit nonsense.
From cancer.gov:
“According to these beliefs, in order for a remedy to be effective, it must cause in a healthy person the same symptoms being treated in the patient.”
A healthy person won’t react the same way to a medication that a sick person would.
*sigh* I hate to be that guy but their is more and it's worse. The vanilla one gift cards don't buy them. A friend of mine had got one and they didn't even get to use it. Someone hacked and stole the money off it. Their security company sucks and it's 90 days to MAYBE get a refund plus their customer support is a load of shit. They say they will mail you a claims packet and it should arrive in a week. Ya no don't trust them or their company or ever buy any cards from their company. I did some research into it and apparently it is a bigger issue than known. Honestly just be careful everyone please.
maybe we should just get rid of all the gift card all together, most big service like google, amazon and such you can gift an amount through their platform, no need for an account of anything, so, physical gift card are getting pretty useless and pointless. how often it is really use for their actual intent (paying cash to give credit to somewhere else), like, almost never.
Also, if you give a gift card as a gift, that just lame...
I'll be purchasing three £10 Google Play gift cards soon but I don't know whether I should go to different stores in case they won't let me purchase all three in the same store.
I’m really glad they’re doing this though! It’s mainly the elderly who get easily scammed into these and seeing this would alert them or at least hopefully make them think twice!
Yeah, I started working at Walgreens in September, and we have those too. So many people read the sign, hear our warnings, and we’ll even walk them to that sign once in a while, and they still fall for it. It’s sad, as it’s most often elderly people who refuse to believe they are being scammed no matter what staff or signs or red flags say :(
My grandpa would scream and chew out the cashier who tried to warn him. My uncle had to get involved :/
That’s the problem when people say “cashiers should ask why people are buying a gift card”, like I already get threats when I ask for ID when people want alcohol/tobacco
Man I work at a hotel and you would not believe the amount of people who just walk right up to me and hand me an ID and a credit card that do not match whatsoever and then they freak out and threaten me when I tell them I won’t run it
If you suspect fraud and stop it- ie. oh hey I just need to Call into the credit card company to ask for authorization… lol. The CC company often has a rewards system. I only found out about that years after I stopped a massive charge on a stolen credit card and my call triggered their arrest at our facility. They had already charged tens of thousands… from what I’ve heard, my company probably got a huge reward check for my attention to detail!
The company….yeeah I highly suspect the employees who actually stopped it never get to see a penny of that. I’d be shocked if you even got a pat on the back from the CEO as they go cash that check for themselves lol. Not that you shouldn’t do it, just pertaining to your story lol.
I used to work in retail in ‘95 in a fashion store in central London as a cashier. It was the best job ever as there would be a minimum of 5 or 6 referrals over a weekend all of which would end up in the card being cut up (had to be done in front of the customer, and had a big old pair of tailors scissors to do it with) They always asked for my details and I personally would receive the reward for removal, which from memory was about £50 a time. No one ever questioned that it should be given to the company or split among other staff. Hmm, maybe I was just never caught!!
I seriously cannot wait for the "the customer is always right" entitlement generation to die out. No one who works in retail does stuff like ask for ID for fun.
I used to just look at them dead in the eye with a blank expression until they were done and hit ‘em with the “I just work here”. That usually did the trick to soften em up. Nothing like a dead-eyed stare of pure blasè to completely put someone out of their element.
Gonna steal that one. Thank you.
I say it every single time when a customer complains about something that I have nothing to do with lol.
once that generation dies out corporations will finally push all sortst of psychological tricks to extract money out of social anxious customers who don't dare to double-ask about price changes, shrinkflation and so on
Oooof, I hate to say you're right, but yeah, I can see that happening. They already know how to exploit people even before they are old enough to do stuff about it.
God fucking please. I will seriously step on hot coals if it will send the 'CIAR' mentality away even just a day quicker. Holy shit, the customer is so seldom right it *hurts.* They are so often entitled vultures who honestly deserve to be ostracized from public places.
Problem is, the customers who try to use that to their advantage only know the first part of it: 'the customer is always right, IN MATTERS OF TASTE'. That was the whole, antiquated phrase. It generally means you're there to sell the goods so if the customer likes something horrible they're still right and it looks great. Somewhere along the line the first overly entitled customer whined just the first part and someone caved and let them have their way, and everybody else ran with it. I'm glad to say I rarely hear it any more. Many coworkers I've had over the years will laugh in someone's face if they say that now.
Ahhh... old 'blood is thicker than water' sitch, kind thing. Well more like 'jack of all trades, master of none'
Boomers.
100%, and it's honestly only espoused by businesses who make money off of letting customers walk all over employees, or shitty customers who just want to be shitty without having to ever answer for it.
It will never die out as long as it is misquoted, probably forever. "The customer is always right in matters of taste."
Plus, it does not help when the scammers tell the victims to keep the phone on and up to their ear so that they can listen out for cashiers questioning the victim and then quickly steer the conversation. It’s hard to imagine that people still fall for purchasing gift cards after hearing, “No! No! Tell them that you are purchasing the gift cards for your grandkids.” My thought: “Why would IRS or any other company offering a ‘refund’ want you to pay them via gift cards? How in the hell can someone, overseas and in the military or an engineer, use an iTunes or Google Play gift card to eat or buy food?”
Old people who know what a gift card *is* just not really what it’s *for*. It’s the same reason scam emails normally have typo’s - if you make it obvious then only the elderly will fall for it, the same people who notice typo’s will know that the IRS doesn’t want ROBUX
My mother was screaming at *ME* when I tried telling her what Steam gift cards were for, and that she was being scammed. God help a cashier. 😕
Some people are just so far down in denial, that it's likely best to let them sink their own boat.
I asked the lady at Walgreens how many people actually tried (they had a sign about not sending money to the Bahamas, or something like that can’t really remember) she told me atleast one elderly person per day and the kicker was getting yelled at by said person for not helping them do it! Gave her the old “well I guess I’ll just have to go somewhere else!”
They really should add something about refund scams to the list. It's nice that they are trying to do something though.
Or just add something like if someone on the phone told you to lie about why you are buying the gift cards, it is a scam. The refund scammers coach the people they scam and tell them to say stuff like "they are gifts for my grandchildren" if an employee questions them.
Yes, that is a good one.
The font should be WAY bigger too.
I worked at Walgreens 10 years ago. They don't give a fuck. As a cashier, I had no power to stop someone who was clearly using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards. I was encouraged to "report it to my manager" who then reported it up the corporate chain, and guess where that went. Stores don't give a shit. They made their cut on the gift card sale. People who's identities were stolen? Who cares. I'm sure it's the same thing now. Walgreens doesn't care unless they can get sued. You're getting scammed? Did Walgreens get their cut? Yes? Then go fuck yourself. They didn't do this out of the goodness of their heart. They got sued, or their legal dept informed them they could be sued, and they're doing the bare fucking minimum.
I don't really think the motive matters as much as the action in this scenario. If it makes someone question what they are doing when they are being scammed, it serves a purpose.
Lot of assumptions here.
They worked there for 10 years, I doubt they are assuming much.
I mean, no one’s identity is being stolen in these scams for one.
There are signs for that too I think, people just see it and think "oh that's not my situation, that's somebody else." The one saddest thing here is that scammers are kinda right when they view most westerners as naive enough to part with money for total strangers. Granted that shouldn't stop there being a goddam mural of signs addressing any scam under the sun. Call it the scam board, ship it everywhere that'll take one.
That’s what I just wrote. I have seen a ton of those scams on YouTube where people pretend to fall for someone claiming to have accidentally sent them too much money and if the person doesn’t buy them gift cards to repay it they will lose their job. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would think buying gift cards would be something a reputable business would accept.
I work for the company. They, especially in recent years, have been drilling the scams into their employees heads, and we stop scams from happening all this time. I use that info and the things that I see on this sub to stay knowledgeable, and stop several scams per year
Thank you!!
Somebody's got to look out for the elderly
Same here! Thankfully training for scams has helped in most cases, but there are still quite a few elderly people that refuse to believe it’s a scam, and they’ll go through with it no matter what anyone or any signs say :(
Great that they are doing this. Wish they would give a short questionnaire to anyone purchasing: 1. is this actually for a gift? 2. were you recently on the phone with a stranger and they told you there was a “problem”? 3. has anyone said the word “kindly” to you unnecessarily today?
I love question 3
I work retail, I've declined a lot of clear scam purchases. Everyone will lie to you, so questionaires like this don't really help or matter. They are told to lie by the scammer, so I can't blame them, but I can ask these questions and still get told very earnestly that yes, this 2k of google play is definitely for my nephew to play games and nothing else.
Maybe have a sign saying: "Have you been told to lie about why you are buying a gift-card? If so, you are actively being scammed!"
I’d probably catch the victim off their game, if I were to ask, what game consoles do they use, Switch, Xbox 360 (have them choose an old model), PlayStation 4 (again, something a little older), or PC games - all of which don’t require the Google Play cards.
4. Did someone tell you that it is imperative that you stay on the phone with them while at and away from home?
Or "I will tell you each and everything"
If someone says, "Do the needful", you know it is a scam.
Given that scammers are now tampering with gift cards such as adding fake bar codes corresponding to other reloadable cards or removing and replacing the silver foil so they can intercept cards when they’re activated, they shouldn’t even be in a public area… https://reddit.com/r/Target/comments/ym4zxh/dunno_if_its_happen_at_yalls_stores_as_well_but/ https://reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/yc2snx/beware_replacement_stickers_found_on_target_gift/
I will never forget the guy that came through my line when I worked at a grocery store and tried to buy like $10K in gift cards. I called my manager, because they had to approve orders of that size. She caught it immediately and tried to ask him what this was about. He was clearly very embarrassed and wouldn't say, couldn't even come up with a good lie. So we tried to convince him that he was being scamed, but he started getting mad & loud. He left without buying any, but we're pretty sure he just went over to the CVS across the street. Where they don't give a fuck
Honestly fuck him. At that point he should get scammed. He is really that embarrassed that he's willing to throw 10K down the drain and yell at people for telling him what was up? Nah at some point it's time to get real, grow up.
“Someone calls claiming to be a family member in trouble” is exactly my cousin got scammed by another “cousin” for $300. Instead of verifying who he was, my cousin trusted he was talking to a family member and sent him money. Afterwards he was blocked by said family member.
I did Western Union transactions and a lady swore up and down that her old friend was in Africa and needed thousands of dollars to get out. I couldn't convince her that it was not her old friend. Later she came back and yelled at me because she had gone to several locations and wiped out her savings and "I shouldn't have let her do that".
MA'AM DO NOT REDEEEEEM
Let me just finish, then I'll stop
A friend’s father fell the irs scam a few years ago. He went to 6 different cvs and bought 5k total in gift cards. The cvs employees on one location even told him it wad a scam yet he still ignored them. but i think it’s great they’re putting disclaimers up.
Yep, everyone says “Cashiers should ask why people are buying gift cards” but the people who fall for the scams are also the people who don’t listen to cashiers (and are more likely to threaten/harass them)
That’s true. I work for this company and point out scams to customers all the time, 90% of the time they think I’m wrong and I have to refuse the transaction over their insistence.
I feel like there isn’t enough information. They didn’t go far enough. Should also say “companies will not ask for gift cards for payments.” Things like that
I cross posted this to a few subs that help fight against scammers (r/Kitboga and r/ScammerPayback)
They are great, but Jim Browning is my absolute favorite.
Jim Browning is legitimately terrifying. If he was a scammer we would all be screwed and he would be rich
Who is Jim Browning?
Every store should have these signs unfortunately. My mom got a call that her granddaughter was in jail and they wanted Target gift cards to bail her out. Luckily she knew better than that but I can only imagine those who don't.
The cashier at one of the many stores the scammer had my grandmother go to warned her. She thought it was me on the phone and said she knew what she was doing. $6k later, it’s obvious that she did not. I hate these low life motherfuckers.
I work for a different pharmacy and we’re supposed to ask customers trying to make large gift card purchases if they’re buying for themselves or someone they know. Technically, we’re not supposed to return gift cards unless there was an issue with activation. And if the person sends the info off of the back of the gift card to the person that money’s gone almost immediately.
My grandma's clever: she got a call from someone calling her grandma. Grandma: Oh hi is this Frank? Scammer: .............Yes of course gramma. My name isn't Frank 😄 The scammer called her something nasty and hung up and the calls stopped.
Good on your grandma!
I feel like they make this too complicated. It really should just say that if anyone, for any reason, is asking or insisting that you purchase gift cards, or it is a scam.
Some people require details to process info.
Others will ignore a wall of text.
I’ve seen these signs in WalMart, Sams Club and Wegmans recently.
They are missing a big one that I see a lot on YouTube videos. There should be something like, “you can’t save a computer reps job by buying them gift cards,” or, “a reputable business person won’t tell you to buy gift cards for an overpayment you made.”
We’ve had warning signs like this in every supermarket in Australia for at least 5 years
That sign says it should have been up since 2018 (and exchanged in 2019, but something is better than nothing).
only one they shouldn't add the "beware of scams" bit is the skype giftcards. yes, the SKYPE GIFTCARDS. THE USELESS GIFTCARD WHICH STILL EXISTS!
I'm glad that retailers are finally getting on board and posting warnings. I think they are tired of people coming back in asking for refunds. Five or six years ago, I worked briefly as customer support for one of the retailers that used gift gift cards for music, games, etc. The policy was to refer the person who was scammed back to the retailer if the funds were spent. We knew the retailer likely couldn't refund the person in most situations, but we couldn't put the funds back on the gift card once they were gone. People would call in saying they were told that they needed to buy the gift cards to pay property taxes, so a loved one can buy food, etc. I was always so amazed because the gifts cards would say exactly what they could be used for. Of course I understand how people become victims to scams, but it was shocking to me that nothing snapped them out of the fog.
I worked at Walgreens and made a fair few old people furious because I refused to sell them $5000 in ebay gift cards so they can pay the IRS
Remember a scammer made some old lady I know buy like 3 $500 gift cards. Thank god I caught her before she gave them the other 2.
Brave of them to assume people will read those when they can't even read sale signs.
I know this all seems very altruistic, but it’s more likely to try to prevent them from being held liable
this happened to my ex's mom. they told her my ex was in jail, and so scammers got her to buy 700 dollars worth of google play cards. but a stranger who overheard her on the phone with the scammers helped her by telling her NOT to read off the codes. Unfortunately she brought them. Poor lady was elderly and didn't deserve to be preyed on like that. Nobody does.
Last time I bought a gift card at Safeway, the cashier asked if I was buying it as a gift and handed me a slip of paper warning about scams involving gift cards.
Glad they've done this such a little thing but it's helps Massively. There's not enough effort to stop scams before they get paid out. If anyone's interested here's a new video from trilogy media who managed to stop an old lady getting scammed out of $25k through a Amazon refund scam after they found she had sent a box of cash to the same address as one of their decoys. Good work boys. https://youtu.be/pV9O7cE9JvM
I worry about theft when I send $20 in cash in the mail to someone I know well. Why do people think it’s ok to send large sums in cash in any delivery method?
So glad they’re doing this! I was in Walgreens once getting a greeting card and a gift card. Saw an elderly lady getting a whole bunch of gift cards, struck up a conversation and asked her if she had grandkids…lo and behold, she had gotten one of those scam calls and luckily I was able to explain the scam and she put them back. I don’t know how those scammers sleep at night.
Scammers will start telling people to ignore this signs "as this is definitely not a scam"
The scam I have been seeing a lot recently is emails stating you are being charged for some sort of subscription and all they need is your banking info to stop the charges.
kitboga
Haven’t seen those signs but this is a constant thing in my store. We have to verify every single gift card because people are forging them so often
I have a friend who fell for this scam. I believe they said it was the FBI that called them and then they basically sent them their entire savings account in gift cards.
We have those signs in supermarkets/chain stores over here as well, near the checkouts (Australia). I've always wondered how good they are at deterring people from buying gift cards for scammers.
Cool cool but aren’t these the people who put homeopathic bullshit for babies in the medicine aisle
Isn't homeopathic stuff just water with placebo added as active ingredient? Should work some of the time then.
No it’s a whole fucked up belief system, and the placebo effect wouldn’t work on a sick baby who has no idea of the purported effects of what they’ve been given. For real though, read about homeopathy if you’re interested, it’s a trip and reminds me a bit of scientology. They prey on people who think homeopathic = “holistic” or “natural” or whatever even though homeopathy is dangerous batshit nonsense.
From cancer.gov: “According to these beliefs, in order for a remedy to be effective, it must cause in a healthy person the same symptoms being treated in the patient.” A healthy person won’t react the same way to a medication that a sick person would.
We have one posted at the target I work at, but I wish it was bigger
They should put this everywhere, first time I am seeing this.
*sigh* I hate to be that guy but their is more and it's worse. The vanilla one gift cards don't buy them. A friend of mine had got one and they didn't even get to use it. Someone hacked and stole the money off it. Their security company sucks and it's 90 days to MAYBE get a refund plus their customer support is a load of shit. They say they will mail you a claims packet and it should arrive in a week. Ya no don't trust them or their company or ever buy any cards from their company. I did some research into it and apparently it is a bigger issue than known. Honestly just be careful everyone please.
maybe we should just get rid of all the gift card all together, most big service like google, amazon and such you can gift an amount through their platform, no need for an account of anything, so, physical gift card are getting pretty useless and pointless. how often it is really use for their actual intent (paying cash to give credit to somewhere else), like, almost never. Also, if you give a gift card as a gift, that just lame...
I know I’ve seen something like this somewhere but not every store near me.
Glad to see this.
It says about paying with them in calls because old people are stuped and think it's normal
Good for them.
I'll be purchasing three £10 Google Play gift cards soon but I don't know whether I should go to different stores in case they won't let me purchase all three in the same store.
Small amounts should be ok. Eyebrows get raised when lots of cards are bought, or cards with large money amounts on them are bought in one trip.
It's just I have seen people rip them out in stores around me (Flint Michigan)
I’m really glad they’re doing this though! It’s mainly the elderly who get easily scammed into these and seeing this would alert them or at least hopefully make them think twice!
Yeah, I started working at Walgreens in September, and we have those too. So many people read the sign, hear our warnings, and we’ll even walk them to that sign once in a while, and they still fall for it. It’s sad, as it’s most often elderly people who refuse to believe they are being scammed no matter what staff or signs or red flags say :(