Victim of a gift card scam. What else can I do?
Discussion
Island Hermit said:
Sadly, I fell victim to a gift card scam.
I received an email from a close personal friend.
Unbeknownst to me her account had been hacked.
She’s old and struggles with technology.
The email read exactly as if it were here.
That she was struggling to buy a gift card for a friend and would square me when she went into her bank branch.
What I have done so far:
1. First thing called the bank. Blocked my card. Tried to recall the transaction but it was too late.
2. Contacted the retailer. Email support only weekend.
3. Reported to action fraud.
4. Reported to the actual company that makes the e-vouchers.
5. Helped friend change email password.
Is there anything else that can be done?
I haven’t been scammed in a decade. The last time was when my card was skimmed by some spotty teenager at a petrol station. That was in the thousands and the bank was quick to act. Fine art was purchased in the thousands. Even a stay at the Waldorf Astoria in NY.
I felt gutted. It’s £200 but hey that’s a tank of fuel and a weekly shop to feed the sprogs.
Is this your way of describing an elaborate bird of prey illegal purchasing scheme for people with unwanted wildlife activity in their gardens? I received an email from a close personal friend.
Unbeknownst to me her account had been hacked.
She’s old and struggles with technology.
The email read exactly as if it were here.
That she was struggling to buy a gift card for a friend and would square me when she went into her bank branch.
What I have done so far:
1. First thing called the bank. Blocked my card. Tried to recall the transaction but it was too late.
2. Contacted the retailer. Email support only weekend.
3. Reported to action fraud.
4. Reported to the actual company that makes the e-vouchers.
5. Helped friend change email password.
Is there anything else that can be done?
I haven’t been scammed in a decade. The last time was when my card was skimmed by some spotty teenager at a petrol station. That was in the thousands and the bank was quick to act. Fine art was purchased in the thousands. Even a stay at the Waldorf Astoria in NY.
I felt gutted. It’s £200 but hey that’s a tank of fuel and a weekly shop to feed the sprogs.
Island Hermit said:
2. Contacted the retailer. Email support only weekend.
3. Reported to action fraud.
4. Reported to the actual company that makes the e-vouchers.
Out of curiosity who was the retailer or the company that makes the e-vouchers?3. Reported to action fraud.
4. Reported to the actual company that makes the e-vouchers.
I'm just trying to understand how the scam works. I'd have expected a malicious website to have been set up where you'd have entered the card details. Was it just that the malicious site was impersonating a big retailer??
I thought the whole point of gift card scams were the scammers were getting genuine cards by deception?
If you’ve bought, for example, an Amazon card then sent it back to your friend’s email address you paid Amazon so no need to cancel your card.
Unfortunately, you may struggle for a refund from either the retailer or your card issuer as you willingly made the transaction (in their eyes, obviously)
If you’ve bought, for example, an Amazon card then sent it back to your friend’s email address you paid Amazon so no need to cancel your card.
Unfortunately, you may struggle for a refund from either the retailer or your card issuer as you willingly made the transaction (in their eyes, obviously)
Saleen836 said:
I know it is too late now but did you not think to give the friend a call and speak with them over the phone, or do people not do that anymore?
Not passive aggressive enough for PH.'What did your friend say about the gift card when you spoke with her on the phone before sending her the money?'
Is the correct first response.
Where is Alucidination or whatever his name was these days?
eldar said:
You buy gift card for 'friend', often Amazon. Send them number to redeem it at once. Money gone.
Scam that has been around decades, but still catches people.
Nothing the OP can do except learn from it.
If that's the procedure then why bother cancelling the card?Scam that has been around decades, but still catches people.
Nothing the OP can do except learn from it.
No-one is refunding you for that.
gottans said:
£200 on a gift card, can you buy one for me?
Seriously the amount requested would be setting the alarm bells ringing for me and they would get a call to check.
Have you spoken to the fraud dept at the bank as they do seem to refund when accounts are subject to fraud.
The bank isn't the problem and won't refund. The £200 has gone and no one will refund it. There isn't an audit trail.Seriously the amount requested would be setting the alarm bells ringing for me and they would get a call to check.
Have you spoken to the fraud dept at the bank as they do seem to refund when accounts are subject to fraud.
If they did, me and a mate could pretend to scam each other and get refunds....
eldar said:
gottans said:
£200 on a gift card, can you buy one for me?
Seriously the amount requested would be setting the alarm bells ringing for me and they would get a call to check.
Have you spoken to the fraud dept at the bank as they do seem to refund when accounts are subject to fraud.
The bank isn't the problem and won't refund. The £200 has gone and no one will refund it. There isn't an audit trail.Seriously the amount requested would be setting the alarm bells ringing for me and they would get a call to check.
Have you spoken to the fraud dept at the bank as they do seem to refund when accounts are subject to fraud.
If they did, me and a mate could pretend to scam each other and get refunds....
From the Citizens Advice site...
Your bank should refund any money stolen from you as a result of fraud and identity theft. They should do this as soon as possible - ideally by the end of the next working day after you report the problem.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/b...
Island Hermit said:
I can’t say many of these replies are helpful so I have deleted the original post. Not here to be questioned or torn a new one.
Good day sirs.
Discussions are discussions, they can go both for and against you. Throwing your toys out of the pram because a bunch of people you don’t know on the internet disagree that you’ve not beed stupid is daft, and removing the original content just serves to make you look daft. Fortunately Biggus Thingus has already quoted your OP, so the content is there for all to see Good day sirs.
The above coupled with your inability to smell a scam that was obvious suggests the internet isn’t for you.
paradigital said:
Discussions are discussions, they can go both for and against you. Throwing your toys out of the pram because a bunch of people you don’t know on the internet disagree that you’ve not beed stupid is daft, and removing the original content just serves to make you look daft. Fortunately Biggus Thingus has already quoted your OP, so the content is there for all to see
The above coupled with your inability to smell a scam that was obvious suggests the internet isn’t for you.
Nice. The above coupled with your inability to smell a scam that was obvious suggests the internet isn’t for you.
rfisher said:
Not passive aggressive enough for PH.
'What did your friend say about the gift card when you spoke with her on the phone before sending her the money?'
Is the correct first response.
Where is Alucidination or whatever his name was these days?
That's the badger, the standard response to the hard of thinking. The poster you quoted is particularly adept at this type of thing.'What did your friend say about the gift card when you spoke with her on the phone before sending her the money?'
Is the correct first response.
Where is Alucidination or whatever his name was these days?
I feel for the OP, makes a mistake, asks for advice and gets trolled for it. Pathetic really.
There is nothing you can do but learn. You have been socially engineered.
The bird has flown from the nest, the horse has left the stable. Digital goods being purchased is where eFraud is at because there is no chance of getting it back. It's a modern-day twist on what would have been harder to carry out in person.
www.haveibeenpwned.com - put your email address in there, it will tell you if you're in a leaked database.
Future advice - speak to the person concerned before doing anything.
Past advice; I laughed and told a friend he was hacked when he asked for €800 to get home from Limassol - I'd been out the night before with him anyway but it was a typical scam. He lost Facebook, LinkedIn and his Gmail accounts. I had to call in some favours at Google to help him out.....
The bird has flown from the nest, the horse has left the stable. Digital goods being purchased is where eFraud is at because there is no chance of getting it back. It's a modern-day twist on what would have been harder to carry out in person.
www.haveibeenpwned.com - put your email address in there, it will tell you if you're in a leaked database.
Future advice - speak to the person concerned before doing anything.
Past advice; I laughed and told a friend he was hacked when he asked for €800 to get home from Limassol - I'd been out the night before with him anyway but it was a typical scam. He lost Facebook, LinkedIn and his Gmail accounts. I had to call in some favours at Google to help him out.....
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