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. “And here they'll say our system is down, you can make payment through a gift card.” And the best one I can give you is utility bills, or government, IRS, something like that,” said Barnett. “People being told they owe a bill, they need to make payment, creating that sense it's an emergency. 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.īarnett added that scammers also seek gift cards as a form of payment. “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. When the money is gone, it can be difficult to get it back. And that's just one batch,” Sudano said.įortunately, 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. “I've had 15 cards that have been compromised. 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. “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. “I went online and the balance, balance on what I had, which was $2,500, was $0,” she said.Īnd Ben and Erin Sudano were trying to do something nice for their employees. Ginny Hanson was trying to book a vacation with her Marriott gift certificates. The money had been drained before they could use them. BALTIMORE - Gift cards are great presents for anyone on your holiday shopping list, but some recipients were gifted cards with empty balances.
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