Scam Alert – Gift Cards

Gift cards are a fantastic way to give to those that are especially hard to buy for or those in your family that just seem to have everything already. Gift cards, however, are not cash. In a new stream of scams, callers are asking you to pay for large ticket items like cars, televisions, or airplane tickets with gift cards. Don't do it! Scammers also might ask you to use Amazon gift cards to pay for electronics, taxes, bail money, debts, or utility or cable bills. Or they might ask you to pay with iTunes gift cards, PayPal, or reloadable cards like MoneyPak, Reloadit, or Vanilla, or by money transfers through services like Western Union or MoneyGram. If you tell someone the code from any of those cards, or send a wire transfer, you probably won’t get your money back. If you gave someone the code from an Amazon gift card, log into your Amazon account and contact Amazon Customer Service, or call them at 1-888-280-4331. Tell them what happened and ask if they can disable the card. If you hear from someone who wants you to pay with an Amazon gift card, don’t do it and report it to the FTC.