COBB COUNTY, Ga. — There's a new innovation in gift card scamming that's exploding around the country.
The Cobb County Sheriff's Office is showing shoppers here how to protect themselves.
Imagine buying your loved one a gift card, but when they go to use it, they call you to say there's nothing on it. That's exactly what's happening. And no type of gift card is safe.
Gift cards are one of the easiest gifts to pick up for the holidays. Atlanta shopper Wesley Watkins said he recently bought some himself.
"I did not know this scam was going on," Watkins said.
Gift card scammers seem to be getting more and more creative with each holiday season. Technology and lifestyle expert Stephanie Humphrey said there are two new ways criminals are taking your money.
"Someone will, maybe, purchase a gift card, load a very minimal amount of money on it, take the card home, get the bar code, duplicate that bar code, and then put it on a gift card in the store over top of the barcode that's already there," Humphrey said.
Humphrey said once the money gets loaded onto the card, it goes right to the scammer. She explained the other common scam.
"They are stealing bulk gift cards... taking them home, carefully opening up the packaging, and cutting the activation code information—the PIN code information, cutting it off, putting that partial gift card back into the packaging and resealing it, and then putting those back on store shelves," Humphrey said.
As soon as the card is activated, thieves drain the money. Humphrey said it doesn't matter if it's a Visa gift card or a store gift card. And it's challenging to get your money back.
"I think it's tragic that people are out here taking from people their hard-earned money," Watkins said.
Tips for shoppers
This is why the Cobb County Sheriff's Office is sharing tips with shoppers on how to stay safe. Sgt. Jeremy Black explained on an Instagram reel.
"If you have a gift card that looks like this; take a moment, fold it out, and make sure the complete gift card is there," Blake said. "Physically inspect it, make sure there's nothing tampered with."
Humphrey also suggests checking the edges, looking at the portion of the card that you're supposed to scratch off, feeling the envelope to make sure there is a full-sized gift card inside, buying your gift card from a display where employees can always see it, and keeping your receipt.
Blake said before you leave the store, there's one more suggestion.
"Ask the cashier to actually open this package before you load money on it because you don't know what may be inside of this," Blake said.
If you happen to become a victim, Humphrey said you can reach out to the gift card company to freeze it, as retail stores likely won't be able to help. You can try to get your money back. Once you've given it away, it's often too late.
"It's Atlanta. A lot of people scam here anyhow," Watkins said. "So, what I would do is just be cautious."
Finally, Blake said the easiest way to avoid a gift card scam is to just give your loved one cash.
"You can't scam cash," Blake said.