What Are The Common Types Of Gift Card Scams?
Lottery Prize
Tech Support
Fake Officials
Romance Scams
Romance Scams are the most popular frauds in which swindlers target individuals to bilk money from them. Fraudsters build fake relationships with individuals and show intense emotions towards them. They express complete honesty towards their target and shower them with love and compliments. They ask for gift cards from their beloved as a token of their love. The victim feels the attachment and buys expensive vouchers and coupons. During the course of the event, the relationship takes a sudden twist. In these conditions, they tell the victims that they have to move on to a new town at once due to their new posting, and they need financial help to settle some accounts. To do so, they will ask the victim to give them some amount they promise to return once they are settled with their new job post. Again, the victim pays the amount out of sympathy and love to their fake dates. By the time they realize the truth, it is too late. They lose their hard-earned money and become mentally frustrated when learning the truth about the fake relationship.
Urgent Need
Sometimes, scammers act like family members, distant relatives, friends, or acquaintances who are stuck in a situation far from their home. He needs some money urgently to deal with the situation. He promises to pay back the money once he gets back home. He asks to buy vouchers and share the details with him. Sensing the urgency of the situation, a person follows the bid to buy gift coupons for those in need. But as always, it was too a scam that he realizes when everything has long gone.
Utility Companies
QR Code Tampering
Black hats hijack QR codes by pasting a fake QR code over the real one. The fake ones are bundled with malicious sites and illegitimate payment links. If a person scans these codes, they are led to malicious websites. One wrong click and malware are downloaded to their devices. Also, sometimes, a victim ends up paying an amount to a black hat when they scan these malicious codes. Hence, fake QR codes are also used to commit gift card fraud.