A Shoppers Drug Mart Store Is Warning Customers About A New Gift Card Scam
There are so many different ways you can get scammed today and it seems like more just keep popping up. A new scam is targeting gift cards in stores. A Shoppers Drug Mart gift card scam has led to the company warning customers and other retailers.
There have been scams involving phones, credit cards, and even the McDonald's app. Now, gift cards are being used by scammers to get that money and use it themselves. Is nothing safe anymore?
A Shoppers Drug Mart in Smith Falls, Ontario took to Facebook to let customers know about the gift card scam.
"Heads up folks! We have just found fraudulent gift cards in our store," the post said.
The post has photos of Starbucks cards which are just like the ones that had been tampered with at the Smith Falls store. The location has also been told that there are fraudulent IKEA ones as well.
Tracey Merkley, the store's assistant manager, told CBC that she was warned about the scam by another Shoppers store in Perth, Ontario.
"They place a thin sticker with a new barcode across the back of the cards so when we try to sell these particular Starbucks cards it comes up as a Best Buy card," said Merkley.
With a different barcode on the back of the gift card, when the store activates the card, the scammers have that money to use at a different store than the one the card is actually for.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) is aware of the issue and has received some reports of organized retail thefts targeting gift cards.
Jeff Thomson, a senior RCMP analyst at the CAFC, said that the items are "a hot commodity for fraudsters" because they let them cash out anonymously.
"We just didn't use to think we had to worry about the small store cards because [the scammers] wanted access to fast cash. That's why they liked the Visas, and now they've found a way to put them toward the store they want, which is Best Buy in this case," said Merkley.
Staff at Merkley's retail pharmacy have been trained to double-check gift cards and receipts to make sure the money goes to who it's supposed to, but customers should check on this too.
Smith Falls Police are also warning that it likely wasn't just one or two stores targeted by this scam.
The Smith Falls store has taken the items off the shelf but it's important to be aware of this new scam when shopping at other Shoppers Drug Mart locations and other stores in general.
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