BALTIMORE — Gift cards are great presents for anyone on your holiday shopping list, but some recipients were gifted cards with empty balances. The money had been drained before they could use them.
Ginny Hanson was trying to book a vacation with her Marriott gift certificates. “I went online and the balance, balance on what I had, which was $2,500, was $0,” she said.
And Ben and Erin Sudano were trying to do something nice for their employees. “We were giving them gift cards and they were coming back to us saying they had been used,” said Erin Sudano, collections manager for Sudano’s Produce.
Of the $7,900 in American Express gift cards purchased by Sudano’s Produce, over $6,700 had been spent, and not by the intended recipients.
“I've had 15 cards that have been compromised. And that's just one batch,” Sudano said.
Fortunately, Marriott and InComm Payments, a separate company processing American Express gift cards, issued full refunds to these customers, but it was a reminder that these cards are like cash. When the money is gone, it can be difficult to get it back.
“One of the things you want to do is turn the gift card over to the back, see if the code has been, the barcode has been scratched off revealing the numbers, or if the paper has been tampered with. Those are good indicators. They are the indicators that somebody has already gotten that number and they're waiting on you to activate it,” said Angie Barnett, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of greater Maryland.
Barnett added that scammers also seek gift cards as a form of payment.
“People being told they owe a bill, they need to make payment, creating that sense it's an emergency. And the best one I can give you is utility bills, or government, IRS, something like that,” said Barnett. “And here they'll say our system is down, you can make payment through a gift card.”
The scammer keeps the person on the phone, directs them to the closest retailer, waits until they pay, then asks for the number on the back of the card.
“Once you do that, that money is gone, that scammer is going to take that money, turn around place orders, get items, sell it on the market for resale value,” said Barnett.
Barnett stresses that gift cards are for gifts, never payment. Buy directly from the retailer or behind the counter, keep the receipt, pay with a credit card, and keep tabs on the balance.
“Check them! Check them immediately and keep checking them. And use them. Give them, use them, do anything. Get rid of them,” Hanson advised.
If your gift card balance was stolen, contact the gift card company right away. Sometimes they can stop the transaction or reverse it. And file a report with the Federal Trade Commission.
