The Grinch is having himself a scammy little Christmas — and he tried doing it on my dime.
You see, I’ve been robbed.
Thankfully, the perp wasn’t a ne’er-do-well on the subway or a stickup kid on the street.
Instead, I unwittingly handed my hard-earned $125 to the faceless bandit by buying a Vanilla Visa gift card at a local Walgreens.
Yes. Despite my sharp wit, my book smarts and my inherently strong BS detector — a sixth sense passed down from my Manhattan-native mother — I’m now one of the 73 million Americans who’ve fallen prey to savage gift card scammers since 2022.
Beneath buzzy TikTok hashtags like #GiftCardScam and #GiftCardScamAwareness, which boast a combined 11.2 million views, freshly fleeced folks like me are sharing horror stories about getting hoodwinked after purchasing the pre-paid plastic.
In an ultra-buzzy bulletin, a law enforcement agent claims that some pro tricksters are stealing the cards in bulk, carefully removing each rectangle from its packaging and slicing off the tops of the gift cards to pocket the all-important 16 to 25-digit card number — numerals needed to access the funds once the money voucher is loaded.
Goons then repackage the unit, return it to the store and wipe it clean seconds after an unsuspecting shopper pumps it full of dough, per the viral vid.
And that’s only one of the snow jobs fraudsters a pulling.
‘Anyone is susceptible’
In fact, the number of reported gift card swindles has increased by 50% since the top of the year, according to a November 2023 report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
Claire Rosenzweig, president and CEO of the BBB-Metro New York, tells The Post that gift cards have fast become the crown jewel of cash cons over the past few months, owing to their easy accessibility as well as to recent advancements in technology.
“Consumers should always alert to gift card scams, especially around the holidays,” advised Rosenzweig. “Some scammers are now using AI deep-fake voice software to trick people into putting money on gift cards and sending the funds their way.”
She cautioned against falling for sophisticated hoaxes — such as receiving a random call from your boss asking you to purchase and load up a slew of gift cards for the office Christmas party.
Before draining your wallet to fill the tall order, Rosenzweig suggests reconfirming that your superior actually made the request — ensuring that it wasn’t, instead, a shifty shark mimicking their timbre through specialized automation.
“Gift cards are just another form of currency that professional scammers can use to carry out a number of crimes — advanced fee scams, employment scams, romance scams and holiday shopping scams,” she noted.
“Anyone, even the [savviest] New Yorker, is susceptible.”
I was Ho-Ho-Hoodwinked
And although I, a proud Jersey girl, am only a Gothamite by proxy thanks to my post at The Post — I’m living proof that no one is safe.
My gift card nightmare before Christmas wasn’t super high-tech. No robots or deepfakes were involved.
I procured the Vanilla Visa on Cyber Monday, Nov. 27, in an attempt to protect my debit card from being compromised during my first round of heavy holiday shopping. (I’d also hoped limiting myself to a measly $125 would stop me from overspending).
But Bah Humbug, did I get Scrooge’d.
After purchasing the card, snagged from a display rack teeming with gift certificates from retailers and restaurants, I rushed home to activate it for use.
It looked totally legit.
There weren’t any signs that the packaging had been tampered with or previously opened. And its barcode matched the code inked on its glossy cardboard envelope.
But upon unwrapping the swipe, I discovered that the majority of its 16-digit card number had been scratched off of its face. And it wasn’t an accident due to post-production smudging. It was evident that a scoundrel nefariously used a sharp implement to render the numbers totally illegible.
I immediately returned to Walgreens, hoping for a refund. But the store manager turned me away, claiming that all gift card purchases are final sale (although the policy wasn’t explicitly stated in the store I patronized).
The pharmacy’s customer service staffers were, too, unhelpful. Phone reps informed my mother, who made the call to headquarters on my behalf as I sobbed, that I’d have to contact the manufacturer for further assistance.
‘More prevalent’
In a statement to The Post, a Walgreens spokesperson said, “As gift card scams become more prevalent during the holiday season, Walgreens has several measures in place to help reduce the threat to our customers.”
“In stores, we have signage displayed on gift card racks, consumer protection warnings at checkout and have equipped our team members with special training to help spot gift card tampering,” continued the delegate. “If customers are experiencing or suspect an issue with a gift card purchased from Walgreens, they should call the number on the back of their card or the card issuer’s hotline.“
But when I contacted Vanilla Gift, the conversation only made me cry harder.
Before the UK-based brand would even consider filing a refund claim, a customer care associate demanded I provide the company with my full name, home address, proof of address, phone number, email and photos of the front and back of my driver’s license.
It was a no for me, dog.
The request felt entirely too intrusive, especially after I’d just been ripped-off.
I ultimately brokered a deal with a customer service supervisor, who agreed to file my claim so long as I forwarded over everything except copies of my license — that, I refused to send.
He said I’d be eligible for a refund after the company launched a full investigation into the scam, which was expected to take up to 30 days.
A spokesperson for Vanilla Gift told The Post, “The unfortunate reality is that the retail and financial services industries have recently seen increasingly sophisticated fraud activity, and prepaid gift cards have not been immune.
“When a customer reports an issue to our team we inform the customer of the information and timeline required to investigate their issue, which is consistent with industry-standard best practices,” continued the rep. “Promptly providing all requested information ensures we can determine what occurred and resolve the problem as quickly as possible.”
Luckily for me, as if it were a merry little miracle, I was fully reimbursed on Dec. 9 — less than two weeks from the dawn of my disaster.
When I opened the mailbox to find a new gift card restocked with my $125, I unabashedly belted out, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah, hallelujah!,” like an obnoxious Christmas caroler.
Here are the BBB’s top tips for avoiding gift card scams this holiday season:
- Be on guard if anyone ever asks for payment through a gift card.
- Stop immediately if a person claiming to be from the government asks for a gift card.
- Contact the gift card seller, the actual business and government organization supposedly asking for money, and BBB to ask whether you are encountering a scam.
- Keep all information related to purchase if scammed.
