GIFT CARD SCAMS

These cautionary articles from the Consumer Rescue team’s gift card scams file tell the stories of real victims of these crimes. Our goal is to promote awareness of the latest scams related to gift cards so that our readers don’t fall for them.

A thief stealing from an unsuspecting internet user

This is how a Craigslist thief easily stole his Target gift card

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Tony Tucker has a sad tale to tell. A Craigslist thief stole his Target gift card. Now he’s empty-handed, and he wants to know if we can convince Target to return the lost $284. 

Tucker’s story is a reminder that there are multiple ways that thieves can steal gift cards, and these scammers are often one step ahead of the average consumer in their methods.

However, in this case, it seems that Tucker did something so ill-advised that the outcome was almost certainly guaranteed.

Consumer alert: If someone offers you a job as a mystery shopper at Walmart -- it's a scam.

How to quickly lose $1,100 in a Walmart shopping scam

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If you receive an unsolicited job offer from Walmart that involves shopping and getting paid big bucks to do it, it’s certainly a scam. But when Michele Turner received such an invitation, she was sure she had found the perfect way to make some extra cash. Unfortunately for her, there was a thief on the other end of that email who was about to reel Michele into an expensive mystery shopper scam. And the only person about to make some extra cash was that predator.

Now Michele is hoping that our advocacy team can help retrieve the over $1,100 she lost during this fiasco. But how?

Consumer Alert: Here are the latest eBay gift card scams to avoid.

eBay gift card scams are running wild. This is how to avoid them

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Here come the eBay gift card scammers — and just in time to steal your cash before the holidays. But the Consumer Rescue team is here too, warning you about these swindlers so you can avoid their trap.

We’ve received many pleas for help from distraught victims of various eBay gift card scams during the past year. They’ve lost hundreds and even thousands of dollars to this scheme. These consumers all want the same thing: to retrieve their stolen money from the anonymous predators who tricked them.

But is there any possible way to do that?