You may not have heard about it, but last year $124,000,000 was stolen from american consumers via gift card scams! That is a lot of money. Gift card scams have become one of the largest in recent years. The reason for this is because gift cards are easily bought, they cannot be traced and are fairly easy to convert into cash. Once a gift card as been legitimately purchased, it is activated and ready to be spent as easy as cash at the designated retailer. Gift cards do not track the user that uses them and so they are nearly impossible to track them down. Additionally, there are numerous services that will buy your gift cards for cash for a fraction of the value.
The most common scams that use gift cards as the payment means are social security, IRS imposter, tech support & romance scams. The AARP has put together valuable resources to help prevent and protect you from these threats. Check out these links for more information! Social Security Scams
If you or a loved one have been the victim of scams, please reach out to the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline for assistance and to help prevent these from happening in the future. 877-908-3360 • M–F, 7 a.m.–11 p.m. ET
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