FBI, This Week: Beware of Gift Card Scams

Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: The FBI warns consumers about the potential for fraud involving the use of gift cards on the Internet.

If you’re looking to sell that gift card you received over the holidays, be wary of scams on secondary gift card market websites where consumers can resell unwanted gift cards.

One way to protect yourself when selling a gift card online is to avoid providing the buyer with the card’s PIN until the transaction is complete.

Another type of online gift card fraud involves scammers asking for them as payments for goods or services.

Jason Levitt: That's a clear indication for us at the FBI that that is not a legitimate way to pay for goods.

Halpern: Jason Levitt is the acting chief of the Intellectual Property and Criminal-Cyber Integration Unit.

Levitt: Typically what happens is that when somebody asks you to pay for something with a gift card, you will give them that gift card information, those funds are instantly removed, and you'll never receive your service or product.

Halpern: If you believe you’re a victim of a gift card scam, report it to ic3.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.