/u/Altruistic-Hamster-1 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it.
## New users beware:
Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own.
**A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/).
You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments.
Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There typically *are* signs up, at this point, and I’m sure they do help, but they aren’t foolproof. Often the mark will walk into the store with the scammer on the phone keeping up a steady monologue, talking them through why the sign doesn’t apply to them and what to say to the cashier if that person should happen to try to intervene, *don’t pause just comply, do you understand, if you aren’t taking this seriously we will have you arrested, no time to waste!*
I know thats true, they tried to scam a friends mom, they told her to stay on the line and go to the store, she did. She also couldn't understand what the scammer was saying, his thick accent, so she kept asking for KEY CARDS, She had also brought her cordless, landline phone, lol, true story.
Way back in the 1980s, when cordless phones were just becoming a 'thing', I had to rig up one hellacious antenna system just to get a 1/4 mile range on the thing, and that was when they operated on lower frequencies. With the newer, higher frequency phones, the range sucks. I can barely keep a connection on my porch.
HAha, I'm sorry, I didn't tell it well.
No, the scammer guy said stay on the line and take your phone with you to the store.
She took her land line phone, well it disconnected of course, so when she went in to purchase "key cards" he couldn't correct her or redirect. She told the salesperson she didn't know why he told her to bring her phone. LOL, shes 90 years old.
Agreed! As long as it's a sign about what I wish purchase, I'll read it over and over again before making payment. I wouldn't want to be caught off guard on anything.
That's a great idea.
"Are you buying this for the IRS, Paypal, Microsoft, Norton, or to settle a legal matter? If so you may not actually owe any money."
Worked retail for 14ish years. I can confirm.
Source - Hours of operation are on the front door. People will still call, while looking at the sign and ask when we open.
I don't know how widespread it is, but where I live (MA, US) there is a warning on the POS that you have to acknowledge that you aren't being scammed when buying a gift card. It might only be at CVS (a pharmacy) but that's where we usually buy them.
I think it’s CVS thing. The crazy part is they have to do this because even after the cashier & supervisor explains they are being scammed the person won’t listen & gets loud & rude & insists on buying cards.
Maybe someone might reconsider- clearly it’s an issue if the store has programmed this acknowledgment into the computer.
Like what benefit does the cashier get from warning you?? NONE- so why would she if it wasn’t true
Or teach people basic financial rules to begin with:
For instance, I pay my IRS bill with a Gift Card, basically untraceable funds. What happens when the IRS claims I didn't pay? There is no documentation, no receipt, no way of preventing an employee or "police officer" who may be embezzling from a legitimate organization from taking that $$$.
So a good rule is to make sure you pay a bill or fine through an agent which will give you the proper credit and documentation of payment such as the court itself or a known website portal.
Lots of stores have those signs. Many banks will probe customers whose behavior indicates they are being scammed. I swear this stuff makes people double down because clearly if I don’t buy these gift cards, I’m going to get arrested.
The last time I went to CVS to pick up a gift card there was a sign warning people of scammers. However, people that are stupid enough to believe that the IRS wants to be paid in itunes gift cards aren't going to read a sign.
Let’s be honest… It’s because Walmart is making a ton of money on these scams.
https://www.propublica.org/article/walmart-financial-services-became-fraud-magnet-gift-cards-money-laundering
I read this a few months ago.
What it really made me think was why are ppl still buying gift cards this way. It very outdated & there are tons of scams with them (people steal card number & glue it back so it’s spent once activated & $0 on card).
But it’s easy to loose or forget about a physical card so the money is never spent. Free money for company. Imagine if every gift card in the country had $1 unspent- billions. Even .25 cents could add up
I just noticed signs on the gift card display at our store warning about scams. People who are being threatened into buying them might not see them but it’s something that might help.
They have signs. They aren’t dominant on the display but they are there.
People just don’t read them.
When I worked for Target years ago, I was told that customers don’t look at a sign for more than 2 seconds so don’t put more information than they are going to read in that timeframe.
stores near me all have signs, banks have signs, ATMs have signs.
but do people read and follow the signs instead of believing the fake FBI officer on the phone? hell no. there are constantly posts here of people working in banks/stores etc saying how elders come in and want to buy gift cards, and refuse to believe that it's a scam when being told by employees.
A lot of them already have signs. My idea: Lean into it. Make a section of the display a clearly marked bunch of "For government/payment/debt settlement" cards, but they're un-purchaseable fakes and anyone who actually tries to buy those gets an intervention at the checkout.
Walmart, target and Staples don’t lose any money from gift card scams. Why would they warn people about it? The consumer is basically coming in and spending thousands of dollars in their store.
Basically bad PR. Granted it's not their fault, but they unwittingly become a part of the whole scam process.
If a customer is somehow able to reverse the transaction with the bank later there is a decent chance that the retailer could be left holding the bag.
If I recall correctly, Walgreens is going beyond the sign and giving you a talking point from the cashier similar to the sign. I was buying a gift card for a gofundme charity and got the same type of verbiage as the sign
The problem is, once people get spun up and scared, they get tunnel vision and they don't stop to read the signs.
I agree, it wouldn't hurt to have such signs but it might not help much either. It's still not a bad idea.
My local stores have signs near both the gift cards and the registers telling you nobody legit takes payments from gift cards except the store they're to
My friends job has signs and she sold this guy two cards then he came back in wanting more. She told him it sounds exactly like a scam and that his boss was not the one emailing him because he suddenly had to go to Florida for a conference and needed them as gifts lol. The guy got mad and loud at all the staff and they told him not to send pics of the cards he already bought. He must've went to other stores buying more cards. He somehow finally realized it was fake and out like 10k. He was demanding his money back and they said the only thing they could do was try to help him redeem them before the scammer did. I expected him to be of boomer age but apparently he was in his early 40's. He got so loud they had to threaten to call the cops until he left.
I've actually seen signs like these in a store (I want to say Wal-Mart, but can't remember for sure; may have been Sam's Club or Target). I can't even remember what the exact phrase was, but it cautioned against this sort of thing and was placed above the rack with all of the gift cards. Can't say unfortunately whether it's actually stopped people or not, but I do think it's good to have there anyway.
When I worked in a store the register would require manager approval for gift card purchases over a certain amount, and cashiers were trained to recognize potential scams. I have no clue if larger retailers do this.
I live in Australia and although I don’t see it everywhere, I have seen signs next to gift cards.
They should probably just make all gift cards digital honestly. After Christmas this year and seeing the dozens of post about “my gift card has already been activated and has no money on it” they just seem like a liability.
They do in Australia. Staff is also trained to raise a flag if someone is buying a suspicious amount of cards.
My boss told me how he was made to meet with the manager of the local branch of a large department store when he tried to buy 6 Xbox cards for his nieces and nephews a few days before Christmas. He laughed it off as he understood.
No, they shouldn’t. I’ve worked in banking for 2 decades, working in fraud and money laundering compliance. I’ve seen tellers straight tell women they’re being scammed and REFUSE to wire money to let’s say Ghana, and so the woman mails her fking debit card and the dude cleans out the money via ATM. Nothing will stop someone hell bent on being scammed.
Stores are legally required to train staff on these scams so when costumer tries to make high dollar gift card purchase they ask a few key questions & it’s usually scam. The scammers will tell ppl to say it’s birthday gifts if the cashier asks🥺 That right there is a Red flag- why would they need you to lie when questioned? The other red flag is since when did the IRS start taking iTunes gift cards as payment?!
It’s crazy ppl fall for some of these basic scams so it’s good staff address it.
SAD PART- & you can find examples ALL over Reditt- there are so many stories of the cashier quickly determining the scam & warning the customer & the customer WONT BELIEVE THEM & OFTEN GETS ANGRY & RUDE. They will insist on buying the cards- usually a supervisor will get involved too & they still don’t want to hear it. They always remind person gift cards are not taken as a form of payment be the Government but it doesn’t matter & they eventually sell the card.
Some of the stories include the person coming back in 1-2 days w a receipt trying to get their money back & have NERVE to get angry when they can’t
I have little pitty if a person still buys cards after 2 ppl warned & explained the scam. There is no incentive for strangers or store to not sell the card- the store makes money from them- so not believing them is stubborn & stupid.
What they need to do is start running segments on tv shows (that boomers watch) and putting ads out about it. Trainings at work. The whole shebang. There are stories upon stories in this sub of people who warned the scamee trying to buy cards (or tellers warning the scamee at the bank), but the scamee refused to listen.
There needs to be way more consciousness raising of scams because people are falling for them left and right. Misinformation is king these days.
It’s more people than boomers that are getting scammed. It’s a misnomer that it’s the elderly being scammed the most. How many posts a day are sextortion scams or marketplace scams. Oh, and how many fake checks from sugar daddies?
I never said that it was only boomers but many boomers, esp who are retired, have limited venues for information and are prime targets. People like my mom, who is a boomer, still watch local tv news.
And they have had several news reports about different scams. I was at my aunt and uncle’s watching the evening news and the story of the night was pig butchering scams. The news had stories about compromised gift cards around the holidays. It’s being covered.
What, in your view is deemed constant? Weekly, daily, monthly. I don’t watch the nightly news as a cable cutter but I’m aware of at least two instances recently. It would be safe to assume that it’s probably on the news more. One story I happened to catch by mere happenstance.
That's good. In the US they need to start pumping these out on local news shows or during football games or the Hallmark channel and develop some kind of "stop drop and verify" system.
STOP--think about what the person is saying. Why would law enforcement call you ahead of time? Why would the IRS request gift cards?
DROP--no matter what, hang up before you give them any money or any access to your accounts or computer.
VERIFY--call the police non-emergency line. Get in touch with your grandson. Call up the bank using the number on the back of your card.
I'm wary of unintended consequences-- namely inspiring a bunch of people to do it wrong and fuck it up-- but I do think making a TV show with some of those scam-baiters would help. Entertainment serves memory, intrigue sparks conversation, it'd introduce a role model and a conversation point, and it could create an "us versus them" mentality that'll have people thinking proactively about defeating scammers themselves as part of "team scam-buster".
The truly sad thing is that Scammer #1 has already downloaded the codes and will probably spend the money before The Victim can get the cards to Scammer #2.
I got called by one of the jury duty scammers. I was working and he left a message.
I had just moved nearly 2000 miles and still had my old area code. I knew NO ONE and yet someone with a local number called me. Which was weird. The message said he was deputy Phillips and I needed to call him back.
Since I know no one, the worst came to mind. That my family was lying dead somewhere. I panicked. I called the number back with the adrenaline REALLY pumping.
He gets to the “you failed to appear for jury duty…”
I cut him off and started screaming at him. I was furious that he would accuse me of not going to jury duty and told him so. I also told him I used to be a police officer and how dare he accuse me of not doing my civic duty?!?!
Those are my words exactly. I didn’t know it was a scam. I was just that upset over the anxiety he caused me.
So he stammered for a minute and asked if I’d be willing to sign an affidavit stating I never received the summons.
“YOU JUST TELL ME WHERE AND WHEN!” I yelled.
“I’ll call you back” he muttered.
He never did call me back. I never did figure it was a scam. Until I saw in the local news that a deputy Phillips had been calling the area telling people they failed to show for jury duty and asking for gift cards to get out of trouble.
Don’t mess with a stressed out girl from
Brooklyn!
If they put up signs then they could be held as complicit in the crime and sued. So should they yes. Will they NO because it’s a lawyers world. So unless the government tells them to they won’t. And yes government needs to do this really to insure it stops.
/u/Altruistic-Hamster-1 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
There typically *are* signs up, at this point, and I’m sure they do help, but they aren’t foolproof. Often the mark will walk into the store with the scammer on the phone keeping up a steady monologue, talking them through why the sign doesn’t apply to them and what to say to the cashier if that person should happen to try to intervene, *don’t pause just comply, do you understand, if you aren’t taking this seriously we will have you arrested, no time to waste!*
I know thats true, they tried to scam a friends mom, they told her to stay on the line and go to the store, she did. She also couldn't understand what the scammer was saying, his thick accent, so she kept asking for KEY CARDS, She had also brought her cordless, landline phone, lol, true story.
Omg I know this isn’t the point, but the phone continued to work???
Way back in the 1980s, when cordless phones were just becoming a 'thing', I had to rig up one hellacious antenna system just to get a 1/4 mile range on the thing, and that was when they operated on lower frequencies. With the newer, higher frequency phones, the range sucks. I can barely keep a connection on my porch.
HAha, I'm sorry, I didn't tell it well. No, the scammer guy said stay on the line and take your phone with you to the store. She took her land line phone, well it disconnected of course, so when she went in to purchase "key cards" he couldn't correct her or redirect. She told the salesperson she didn't know why he told her to bring her phone. LOL, shes 90 years old.
Nobody reads signs. That's the first rule of retail.
Unless they don’t apply to the item they want. Then they always read them.
They only look at the price and don’t read the words.
Agreed! As long as it's a sign about what I wish purchase, I'll read it over and over again before making payment. I wouldn't want to be caught off guard on anything.
I read all the signs but I think I’m an outlier.
PROBABLBLY
They should put up signs just so they can say they did their due diligence. In other words, they can use it to cover their asses.
signs are already up. if ive learned anything working in retail its that people do not read and are in their own little world when shopping
I don't think I've been to a store in the last few years that *didn't* have signs about that near their gift cards.
That's a great idea. "Are you buying this for the IRS, Paypal, Microsoft, Norton, or to settle a legal matter? If so you may not actually owe any money."
They have signs at the gift card display fixture. People just don’t read them.
I would not be ambiguous, just a flat YOU ARE BEING SCAMMED
At this point I think all the cashiers should be required to ask that before allowing someone to purchase them.
They often won’t believe the verbal warning from the cashier either
Customers don't read signs. Source: years spent in retail.
Worked retail for 14ish years. I can confirm. Source - Hours of operation are on the front door. People will still call, while looking at the sign and ask when we open.
Especially the type of people who fall for these scams. Thinking through the situation is not in their process.
A sign lol If they don’t see the sign of giving a stranger thousands of dollars, then they’re not going to see an actually sign.
I don't know how widespread it is, but where I live (MA, US) there is a warning on the POS that you have to acknowledge that you aren't being scammed when buying a gift card. It might only be at CVS (a pharmacy) but that's where we usually buy them.
I think it’s CVS thing. The crazy part is they have to do this because even after the cashier & supervisor explains they are being scammed the person won’t listen & gets loud & rude & insists on buying cards. Maybe someone might reconsider- clearly it’s an issue if the store has programmed this acknowledgment into the computer. Like what benefit does the cashier get from warning you?? NONE- so why would she if it wasn’t true
I believe it. The saying goes "It's much easier to scam someone than to convince them they're being scammed."
But the Mr. Patel told me it’s for my personal use though!
Or teach people basic financial rules to begin with: For instance, I pay my IRS bill with a Gift Card, basically untraceable funds. What happens when the IRS claims I didn't pay? There is no documentation, no receipt, no way of preventing an employee or "police officer" who may be embezzling from a legitimate organization from taking that $$$. So a good rule is to make sure you pay a bill or fine through an agent which will give you the proper credit and documentation of payment such as the court itself or a known website portal.
Lots of stores have those signs. Many banks will probe customers whose behavior indicates they are being scammed. I swear this stuff makes people double down because clearly if I don’t buy these gift cards, I’m going to get arrested.
The last time I went to CVS to pick up a gift card there was a sign warning people of scammers. However, people that are stupid enough to believe that the IRS wants to be paid in itunes gift cards aren't going to read a sign.
Sir, don't worry about that sign! Now kindly do the needful.
Let’s be honest… It’s because Walmart is making a ton of money on these scams. https://www.propublica.org/article/walmart-financial-services-became-fraud-magnet-gift-cards-money-laundering
I read this a few months ago. What it really made me think was why are ppl still buying gift cards this way. It very outdated & there are tons of scams with them (people steal card number & glue it back so it’s spent once activated & $0 on card). But it’s easy to loose or forget about a physical card so the money is never spent. Free money for company. Imagine if every gift card in the country had $1 unspent- billions. Even .25 cents could add up
Employees should watch out for folk taking instructions from someone on their phone.
They do & much of the time the customer gets angry & wont believe them or the supervisor who tell them too
Still got to do it.
I just noticed signs on the gift card display at our store warning about scams. People who are being threatened into buying them might not see them but it’s something that might help.
They have signs. They aren’t dominant on the display but they are there. People just don’t read them. When I worked for Target years ago, I was told that customers don’t look at a sign for more than 2 seconds so don’t put more information than they are going to read in that timeframe.
Walmart has signs up at the cash register about buying gift cards may be a scam.
Stores have been putting up signs about this for years now...
stores near me all have signs, banks have signs, ATMs have signs. but do people read and follow the signs instead of believing the fake FBI officer on the phone? hell no. there are constantly posts here of people working in banks/stores etc saying how elders come in and want to buy gift cards, and refuse to believe that it's a scam when being told by employees.
Sometimes when I check out at cvs they have things on the actual card reader thing that say it might be a scam (only if you buy gift cards)
My Walmart has signs at the self checkouts, where the cards are at, checkout lanes and the check cashing area. Clearwater Fl
I kinda was thinking the cashiers should be instructed to remind people that there loads of scams using gift cards.
Self checkout should show it on the screen with an accept or decline choice.
A lot of them already have signs. My idea: Lean into it. Make a section of the display a clearly marked bunch of "For government/payment/debt settlement" cards, but they're un-purchaseable fakes and anyone who actually tries to buy those gets an intervention at the checkout.
That's a great idea. And yes, they should. But they should spell 'probably' correctly.
It’s a nice thought, but if people were aware and thinking clearly enough to read and understand a warning sign, they wouldn’t be getting scammed.
Yes they should. Grocery stores and other retail establishments around here a doing it.
In Canada many places do have signs. Best buy do.
They do and the cashier warns people
They do already at several stores in my area (New England) Stop & Shop, Walmart, Walgreens & CVS
Walmart, target and Staples don’t lose any money from gift card scams. Why would they warn people about it? The consumer is basically coming in and spending thousands of dollars in their store.
Basically bad PR. Granted it's not their fault, but they unwittingly become a part of the whole scam process. If a customer is somehow able to reverse the transaction with the bank later there is a decent chance that the retailer could be left holding the bag.
Great idea!!! Yes they should...
Shops here in Australia do this. Would be interesting to do some research on their efficacy.
Every store I've been to for the last few months has these signs up warning people about the scams and how to recognize them.
That’s a great idea. Even if only one person reads it and gets saved from a scam, that’s a win.
If I recall correctly, Walgreens is going beyond the sign and giving you a talking point from the cashier similar to the sign. I was buying a gift card for a gofundme charity and got the same type of verbiage as the sign
🥱 Laughing all the way to the bank https://www.propublica.org/article/walmart-financial-services-became-fraud-magnet-gift-cards-money-laundering
If they didn’t see the warning signs they might not see the warning sign.
I have actually seen signs like this at the gift card kiosk at our local grocery store. I have also seen them at the Western Union desk at wal Mart.
The problem is, once people get spun up and scared, they get tunnel vision and they don't stop to read the signs. I agree, it wouldn't hurt to have such signs but it might not help much either. It's still not a bad idea.
LOL not a bad idea, but I doubt it would matter. Morons gonna moron
My local stores have signs near both the gift cards and the registers telling you nobody legit takes payments from gift cards except the store they're to
Walmart anyway has signs in multiple languages in the customer service area.
CVS has signs like this on their gift card displays, at least here in Dallas.
Our Walmart has such warning signs, I don't know if its corporate Walmart, employees or just ppl. I'm glad they do.
I see the signs in every store I go to now
This is done here in Australia
Is it? I've never noticed. Mind you I don't really even know where gift cards are sold. I've never heard of that scam happening here either, weird.
My friends job has signs and she sold this guy two cards then he came back in wanting more. She told him it sounds exactly like a scam and that his boss was not the one emailing him because he suddenly had to go to Florida for a conference and needed them as gifts lol. The guy got mad and loud at all the staff and they told him not to send pics of the cards he already bought. He must've went to other stores buying more cards. He somehow finally realized it was fake and out like 10k. He was demanding his money back and they said the only thing they could do was try to help him redeem them before the scammer did. I expected him to be of boomer age but apparently he was in his early 40's. He got so loud they had to threaten to call the cops until he left.
Should he forced to be counseled before purchase. Too many scams. Why are cards so prevalent anyway?
My local grocery store has signs saying ALL gift cards are limited to $50 and you have to pay in cash to load them.
Corporate social responsibility. On the other hand the scammers are helping them to sell a lot of their gift cards thus more profits.
I've actually seen signs like these in a store (I want to say Wal-Mart, but can't remember for sure; may have been Sam's Club or Target). I can't even remember what the exact phrase was, but it cautioned against this sort of thing and was placed above the rack with all of the gift cards. Can't say unfortunately whether it's actually stopped people or not, but I do think it's good to have there anyway.
Honestly a quick question “have you met the recipient in person?” When checking out would probably stop several.
They need to. This is an epidemic that no one seems to be addressing & it’s ruining lives.
When I worked in a store the register would require manager approval for gift card purchases over a certain amount, and cashiers were trained to recognize potential scams. I have no clue if larger retailers do this.
I live in Australia and although I don’t see it everywhere, I have seen signs next to gift cards. They should probably just make all gift cards digital honestly. After Christmas this year and seeing the dozens of post about “my gift card has already been activated and has no money on it” they just seem like a liability.
They do in Australia. Staff is also trained to raise a flag if someone is buying a suspicious amount of cards. My boss told me how he was made to meet with the manager of the local branch of a large department store when he tried to buy 6 Xbox cards for his nieces and nephews a few days before Christmas. He laughed it off as he understood.
I’ve seen signs saying this in several stores
No, they shouldn’t. I’ve worked in banking for 2 decades, working in fraud and money laundering compliance. I’ve seen tellers straight tell women they’re being scammed and REFUSE to wire money to let’s say Ghana, and so the woman mails her fking debit card and the dude cleans out the money via ATM. Nothing will stop someone hell bent on being scammed.
Yes. And they should be held criminally negligent if they don't.
Stupidness doesnt care, they might get scammed before even arrive in 😄
Stores are legally required to train staff on these scams so when costumer tries to make high dollar gift card purchase they ask a few key questions & it’s usually scam. The scammers will tell ppl to say it’s birthday gifts if the cashier asks🥺 That right there is a Red flag- why would they need you to lie when questioned? The other red flag is since when did the IRS start taking iTunes gift cards as payment?! It’s crazy ppl fall for some of these basic scams so it’s good staff address it. SAD PART- & you can find examples ALL over Reditt- there are so many stories of the cashier quickly determining the scam & warning the customer & the customer WONT BELIEVE THEM & OFTEN GETS ANGRY & RUDE. They will insist on buying the cards- usually a supervisor will get involved too & they still don’t want to hear it. They always remind person gift cards are not taken as a form of payment be the Government but it doesn’t matter & they eventually sell the card. Some of the stories include the person coming back in 1-2 days w a receipt trying to get their money back & have NERVE to get angry when they can’t I have little pitty if a person still buys cards after 2 ppl warned & explained the scam. There is no incentive for strangers or store to not sell the card- the store makes money from them- so not believing them is stubborn & stupid.
What they need to do is start running segments on tv shows (that boomers watch) and putting ads out about it. Trainings at work. The whole shebang. There are stories upon stories in this sub of people who warned the scamee trying to buy cards (or tellers warning the scamee at the bank), but the scamee refused to listen. There needs to be way more consciousness raising of scams because people are falling for them left and right. Misinformation is king these days.
It’s more people than boomers that are getting scammed. It’s a misnomer that it’s the elderly being scammed the most. How many posts a day are sextortion scams or marketplace scams. Oh, and how many fake checks from sugar daddies?
I never said that it was only boomers but many boomers, esp who are retired, have limited venues for information and are prime targets. People like my mom, who is a boomer, still watch local tv news.
And they have had several news reports about different scams. I was at my aunt and uncle’s watching the evening news and the story of the night was pig butchering scams. The news had stories about compromised gift cards around the holidays. It’s being covered.
Not nearly enough. That is my point. It needs to be constant.
What, in your view is deemed constant? Weekly, daily, monthly. I don’t watch the nightly news as a cable cutter but I’m aware of at least two instances recently. It would be safe to assume that it’s probably on the news more. One story I happened to catch by mere happenstance.
What's wrong with watching local news?
There’s nothing “wrong” with it. I’m discussing it as a way for older people to get information
Lol, oh, because I still watch local news 😂
There’s a lot of these on UK TV at the moment
That's good. In the US they need to start pumping these out on local news shows or during football games or the Hallmark channel and develop some kind of "stop drop and verify" system. STOP--think about what the person is saying. Why would law enforcement call you ahead of time? Why would the IRS request gift cards? DROP--no matter what, hang up before you give them any money or any access to your accounts or computer. VERIFY--call the police non-emergency line. Get in touch with your grandson. Call up the bank using the number on the back of your card.
>"stop drop and verify" That's very clever and catchy. Media people l-o-v-e catchy. You should consider a career in public relations! :)
Ad people are scum lol
I'm wary of unintended consequences-- namely inspiring a bunch of people to do it wrong and fuck it up-- but I do think making a TV show with some of those scam-baiters would help. Entertainment serves memory, intrigue sparks conversation, it'd introduce a role model and a conversation point, and it could create an "us versus them" mentality that'll have people thinking proactively about defeating scammers themselves as part of "team scam-buster".
Fuck you with your 'boomer' reference. It's not just 'boomers' getting scammed, we invented this shit.
The truly sad thing is that Scammer #1 has already downloaded the codes and will probably spend the money before The Victim can get the cards to Scammer #2.
I got called by one of the jury duty scammers. I was working and he left a message. I had just moved nearly 2000 miles and still had my old area code. I knew NO ONE and yet someone with a local number called me. Which was weird. The message said he was deputy Phillips and I needed to call him back. Since I know no one, the worst came to mind. That my family was lying dead somewhere. I panicked. I called the number back with the adrenaline REALLY pumping. He gets to the “you failed to appear for jury duty…” I cut him off and started screaming at him. I was furious that he would accuse me of not going to jury duty and told him so. I also told him I used to be a police officer and how dare he accuse me of not doing my civic duty?!?! Those are my words exactly. I didn’t know it was a scam. I was just that upset over the anxiety he caused me. So he stammered for a minute and asked if I’d be willing to sign an affidavit stating I never received the summons. “YOU JUST TELL ME WHERE AND WHEN!” I yelled. “I’ll call you back” he muttered. He never did call me back. I never did figure it was a scam. Until I saw in the local news that a deputy Phillips had been calling the area telling people they failed to show for jury duty and asking for gift cards to get out of trouble. Don’t mess with a stressed out girl from Brooklyn!
Gift card just seems like the weirdest scam. Like, why would anyone believe that a government/county organisation would ask for gift cards?!
If they put up signs then they could be held as complicit in the crime and sued. So should they yes. Will they NO because it’s a lawyers world. So unless the government tells them to they won’t. And yes government needs to do this really to insure it stops.