Police warn of 'card-draining' scam that impacted over 100 gift cards at local stores
PHILADELPHIA - Police are warning shoppers of an ongoing gift card scam known as "card draining" that recently impacted over 100 gift cards at a Pennsylvania grocery store.
The scam, according to police, involves thieves removing a gift card from store shelves and carefully procuring the card's information before returning it to the rack.
When a victim unknowingly purchases a compromised gift card, police say the thieves use the stolen card number and pin-codes to drain the card's value.
Florida, Miami Beach, Office Depot, gift card display. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
University of San Diego Finance Professor, Dan Roccato, had this to say about the scammers, "They’re looking at gift card purchases and basically stealing the numbers before the consumer buys the card."
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The New Britain Township Police department reported over 100 Visa Vanilla and Apple gift cards were recently compromised at a local Giant grocery store.
The department says the nationwide card draining scam has been reported across Bucks and Montgomery counties.
Roccato says before making a gift card purchase, consumers should, "Make sure the card is sealed. Make sure the protective cover is still on, it doesn’t look like it’s been tampered with in any way."
He says keep the receipts and if, in the end, you find you’ve been scammed, he says call the company and take a picture of the card with the serial number and codes on it for when a report needs to be made.