gift certificate fraud

Sorry, but this story is 2nd hand, and it might even have been distorted as it got to me (plus by my faulty memory), yet I thought it might be interesting.

Last year I worked briefly alongside someone who was on probation due to an incident she'd been involved in. Working in a retail store, she was introduced by a co-worker to someone who had a relatively large amount on a gift card for that store that was soon to expire and useless to him. She bought it at a heavy discount and proceeded to use it in that store. It turned out to be fraudulent, and since she was employed there, she was suspected of being the perpetrator of the fraud. Keep in mind that the instrument looked good enough to fool her, since she worked there! She lost her job and plead guilty to get probation as a penalty.

Of course it's possible that she was lying to me about the story -- someone else who worked alongside us was an obvious teller of tall tales -- but if so, it would probably have been only to deflect her own culpability. Which means the story of the gift certificate was probably true at least in overall outline.

So what is to be done? We're used to certain standard instruments in conveying funds. A gift card? It could convey a lot of fine print; I don't know where the legal presumptions are. It is quite plausible that gift certificates would be discounted and circulate. I suppose this card had its info on a magnetic strip, and that they all look alike in that form.

You are correct Robert, there are many different kinds of scams. We deal with internet based Advanced Fee Fraud scams. I suppose someone could sell gift cards that were cloned or frauds in some way on the internet.

Sadly there is a type of people in the world who have no problem obtaining money or other items of value from unsuspecting people. These people are criminals and should be punished for their efforts. It is not always easy to catch them though.

An important concept to remember is, If it is too good to be true, it is probably a scam.. Avoid getting involved with things that are "too good to be true". Hopefully this account that you presented will help someone who might be presented with the same "opportunity".

OK, but what would you do if you had a gift card for a store whose items you weren't interested in? Would there be some way to safely assure someone else that the account was legitimate? It would seem a lot harder to verify to a 3rd party than a bearer note whose features are visible.

Pass them to a friend or relative who trusts you. Buying vouchers for a fraction of the face value from someone you don't know (which seems to me to be the case here) is asking for trouble.

Pass them to a friend or relative who trusts you. Buying vouchers for a fraction of the face value from someone you don't know (which seems to me to be the case here) is asking for trouble.

True. In the Mafia supposedly they say not to trust anyone you haven't known 15 years. But even that's no guarantee. I had a good friend I knew longer than that who turned out to be a manipulative guy who wasn't forthcoming with important details and tried to manipulate me into following him down a bad financial road; not an out-and-out swindle like these sorts of things, but, well, let's just say he played on people's confidence.

Best solution, buy from legitimate outlets, not someone in a trench coat or from the back of a car. Everyone wants a bargain, but if it is an illegal activity, it is no bargain.