We’re always interested/slashed annoyed to learn of new scams, particularly around the holidays. So we were intrigued by the announcement from the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center that it has busted three men accused of running a gift card scam worth an estimated $14 million. We hadn’t heard of this one before. So many scams. So hard to keep up.
We say “new,” but this scam is more “newish” and has become widespread enough in the past few years that the Texas Legislature this year enacted a law more clearly defining gift card fraud and upping the penalties.
How does it work? Scammers go to stores or kiosks and steal empty gift cards, TFCIC Director Adam Colby told the Observer. They open them carefully, obtain the card number and activation code, then carefully seal and cover up any tampering before returning the cards to the store. The info from the cards is keyed into a computer running a program that keeps watch until someone buys one of the tampered-with cards and loads it up with money. The thieves then instantly transfer the money on the card to themselves, leaving the purchaser with a worthless piece of plastic…