The US government has warned of new scams

The Federal Travel Commission (FTC) warned in a report that many people are falling for “gift card” scams.

Some criminals ask people to buy “gift cards” so they can enter their numbers and empty them.

The FTC also warned that no real business or government agency would ask customers to purchase a gift card to pay.

For this reason, they recommend that people always keep a copy of their gift card and store receipt.

This way they can use them to report gift card scams to the relevant company so that they can request a refund.

Typically, this type of scam begins with a call, text, email, or social media message.

Scammers will do anything to get people to buy gift cards. They will do everything they can to give them card numbers and pin codes.

What are the most common tricks? to commit fraud?

On first contact with scammers, they say it’s an emergency amount where the person has to pay or something terrible will happen.

They will then specify which gift card to buy and where. For example, they may ask victims to deposit money into eBay, Google Play, Target, or Apple gift cards.

They usually ship to a specific store like Walmart, Target, CVS or Walgreens.

Additionally, criminals will ask for the gift card number and PIN found on the back of the card. This way they can access the deposited money.

But if fraud has already occurred, it’s best to notify the gift card company quickly. Here it’s not about when the fraud happened, it’s about victims reporting it and getting their money back.