If the scammer rejects this, this should tip you off. Thomas also recommends anyone contacted by a scammer for this offer to pay by a safer form of payment such as a credit card. вЂњAnytime you hear of a friend or family member or yourself being asked to pay for anything in a gift card, run the other direction it is a scam.вЂќ вЂњNo government agency, not even really reputable businesses I mean, you canвЂ™t pay for your lawn care and gift cards, you can afford gift card for that store, but you canвЂ™t pay your lawn care company with a gift card from Target, it just doesnвЂ™t work that way,вЂќ said Thomas.

Thomas said that anytime youвЂ™re asked to pay for something with a gift card, it should be an automatic red flag. вЂњSo they ask you to go buy a new one, another one, sometimes another, and unfortunately victims fall for that.вЂќ вЂњTheyвЂ™ll say you bought us this $500 card but thereвЂ™s no money on it,вЂќ said Thomas. Oftentimes scammers will say thereвЂ™s no money on the gift card and ask victims to buy another one. ItвЂ™s also common for a scammer to contact you and ask you to pay for something with a gift card in exchange for a government grant. вЂњOnce youвЂ™ve given those unique numbers on the back of the gift card to the scammer, youвЂ™ll never see that money again, youвЂ™ll never see those gift cards again and most likely never hear from that scammer again,вЂќ said Thomas. They choose this method because gift cards are untraceable. Scammers will typically ask victims to send them pictures of the codes on the back or mail the cards. Thomas said the most popular gift cards people are asked to buy are Apple or Amazon. вЂњThen you find out that person never really asked for those gift cards.вЂќ вЂњYou think youвЂ™re doing something kind for this person, youвЂ™re gonna send them a gift card or maybe theyвЂ™re asking you to help them out by grabbing it for them and pass it along to them when you get to work or when you get to school or whatever it is,вЂќ said Thomas. In some instances, the scammers will contact their victims via email, text, or Facebook message, impersonating a victimвЂ™s friend or coworker and ask them to purchase gift cards for them. вЂњ90 percent of scams are not reported to BBB, so if there are $245 million in losses reported to us, that means thereвЂ™s a lot more that have never been reported to us.вЂќ вЂњThis is not a small dollar scam, this is not losing $50,вЂќ said Thomas. Nationwide, the reported losses for gift card scams since 2017 is $245 million. вЂњScammers are finding out that they can reach out to people and ask them to pay for something in gift cards and sadly people do it.вЂќДЄccording to Thomas, those who fell for a gift card scam and reported it to the BBB between 20 lost an average of $700. вЂњGift card scams are hugely prevalent and are becoming even more common because they are untraceable,вЂќ said Nichole Thomas, the communications director for the Better Business Bureau serving Northern Indiana. (WANE) - The Better Business Bureau is warning Hoosiers about a popular gift card scam.

Bbb gift card rescue