Gift Cards \u2013 prepaid credit-card-like financial instruments \u2013 are for gifts. Just ask the government.<\/p>\n
Use them, perhaps, to give your style-conscious niece who lives far away the chance to shop for something she\u2019ll actually wear. But DON\u2019T use a gift card to help rescue that niece, or anyone else, from sudden misfortune or a mishap, and especially not because you got an urgent call from someone with surprising news, needs or an offer. You\u2019re only being robbed, writes Mark Hedin <\/strong>for Ethnic Media Services.<\/strong><\/p>\n That message was reinforced in a media teleconference Oct. 23 with Federal Trade Commission representatives Monica Vaca and Lois Greisman organized by Ethnic Media Services.<\/p>\n The FTC urges anyone contacted by a person who wants to be paid via a gift card \ua7f7 iTunes and Google Play are popular just now \ua7f7 to put down the phone, take a deep breath and call the law.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who demands payment by gift card is always a scammer,\u201d the FTC\u2019s website Consumer Sentinel Program (FTC.gov\/giftcards) says. Greisman and Vaca urged people to check it out.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is not a single legitimate merchant, government or agency that will ever ask for a payment in that way,\u201d Greisman said.<\/p>\n With people becoming more cautious about sending money via wire transfers, gift-card scams are the latest thing in stealing people\u2019s money, they said.<\/p>\n From an annual total of $20 million a few years ago, gift-card scams in the first nine months of this year already total $53.1 million (http:\/\/public.tableau.com\/profile\/federal.trade.commission#!\/vizhome\/ConsumerSentinelNetwork\/AgeFraudLosses) \ua7f7 and those are just the ones reported to the agency. That $53.1 million is the haul from 30,309 different crimes. African American and Latino people are disproportionately victimized, the FTC officers said, and also the least likely to report the crimes, Vaca and Greisman said.<\/p>\n Often, when victims don\u2019t report their losses, they said, it\u2019s either out of shame and embarrassment or the belief that there\u2019s nothing that can be done to help them anyway, so why bother?<\/p>\n And it\u2019s true, getting people to buy a gift card is an effective way to steal their money, because currently there is no way to stop the payment, Vaca, associate director of the FTC\u2019s Division of Consumer Response and Operations, said. \u201cGift cards are for gifts, not payment,\u201d she emphasized.<\/p>\n \u201cThe money is gone, as soon as that pin number is provided,\u201d Greisman, director of the Division of Marketing Practices, confirmed.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s still a good idea to reach out to the gift card company for help, or to call the FTC at (877) FTC-HELP (382-4357), if you\u2019ve given a stranger money that way. The agency is trying to work with gift-card sellers on ways to block frauds, she said, and the more they learn about the various ways people are being robbed, the more ability law enforcement may have to stop it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to work with the issuers \ua7f7 Google Play, Amazon, Apple, Walgreen\u2019s, CVS and others \ua7f7 to see what can be done to minimize the harm,\u201d Greisman said.<\/p>\n Vaca and Greisman steered listeners to the Consumer Sentinel Program on government web sites FTC.gov\/giftcards and also FTC.gov\/data, where there\u2019s advice, a trove of data on various ways people have been cheated and statistics showing that people of all ages are targeted and fall victim to the scams.<\/p>\n Younger people are statistically more likely to pay scammers, the speakers said. Older targets are more likely to blow the whistle.<\/p>\n The FTC website also lists contact information for some of the biggest card issuers (http:\/\/www.consumer.ftc.gov\/articles\/paying-scammers-gift-cards) for people to report suspicious transactions.<\/p>\n People can report crimes anonymously, Greisman said, even though the more information someone provides, the more helpful it is to the FTC and the 2,500 law-enforcement staff nationwide who can access the information FTC gets from victims.<\/p>\n The government is also working with law enforcement agencies overseas, such as in India, where many of these scams seem to originate, she said.<\/p>\n The FTC is not itself an enforcement agency, the speakers pointed out, but nonetheless, it initiated a process by which millions of dollars were eventually returned to people victimized in recent years by wire-transfer rip-offs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gift Cards \u2013 prepaid credit-card-like financial instruments \u2013 are for gifts. Just ask the government. Use them, perhaps, to give your style-conscious niece who lives far away the chance to shop for something she\u2019ll actually wear. But DON\u2019T use a gift card to help rescue that niece, or anyone else, from sudden misfortune or a…<\/p>\n