Gift Card Alert - The PASH Wedding Forums and Message Boards

Sh@ks18 · #1 11-30-2006, 11:39 PM

Here's an email i just received that i thought i'd share.

COMMUNITY ALERT
NOTIFICATION

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT

Gift Cards

Well the crooks have found a way to rob you of your gift card balance.

If you buy Gift Cards from a display rack that has various store cards you may become a victim of theft.

Crooks are now jotting down the card numbers in the store and then wait a few days and call to see how much of a balance THEY have on the card.

Once they find the card is "activated", then they go online and start shopping.

You may want to purchase your card from a customer service person, or on-line, where they do not have the Gift Cards viewable to the public.

Please share this with all your family and friends...

You may wish to read about it here:

http://www.snopes.com/fraud/sales/giftcard.asp

sparklesweetie · #2 11-30-2006, 11:48 PM

Wow. People will really resort to anything won't they?

Although on the other hand, pretty conniving person that thought of that.

Sh@ks18 · #3 12-01-2006, 12:34 AM

lol and theyre giving non criminals ideas

jeriluvsdc · #4 12-01-2006, 04:06 PM

Wow what will they think of next?? I went shopping at Target the morning after Thanksgiving , payed for my stuff and went to stand in line at Starbucks while I was waiting for my sisters to get done checking out and the lady in front of me put her bag down to get her money out and some guy walked up and took her bag!!! Luckily they had plenty of secrurity and they stopped him at the door but, man what a jerk!!! It's pretty sad when you have to steal other people stuff that they have worked hard for!!!!

Get a life loser !!!!

AngelRoseFyre · #5 12-01-2006, 04:31 PM

Thanks for the heads up. I sometimes but giftcards this time of year. I know a lot of people who do, so I just forwarded the e-mail.

AngelRoseFyre · #6 12-01-2006, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeriluvsdc

Wow what will they think of next?? I went shopping at Target the morning after Thanksgiving , payed for my stuff and went to stand in line at Starbucks while I was waiting for my sisters to get done checking out and the lady in front of me put her bag down to get her money out and some guy walked up and took her bag!!! Luckily they had plenty of secrurity and they stopped him at the door but, man what a jerk!!! It's pretty sad when you have to steal other people stuff that they have worked hard for!!!!

Get a life loser !!!!

That's horrible. I really can't stand that kinda sh*t. If you need money that bad, get a job, or second job.

Clarity · #7 12-01-2006, 04:36 PM

Wow! I was going to buy my kids some Walmart download cards but maybe I'll go to the service desk and ask for brand new ones. I wonder if you can buy them online? mmm I guess those Prepaid Visa's my bank offers would be the best idea. Thanks for the heads up.

Sh@ks18 · #8 12-01-2006, 04:50 PM

At BBW we carry the gift cards behind the counter and only have a few on display

MattandMegan · #9 12-05-2006, 09:54 PM

I totally missed this thread! In most cases, you have to scratch the PIN area off on the gift card to use it online or to access the account over the phone. I am fairly sure that as long as the PIN area is not scratched off, you should be safe. I'm not sure if all gift cards come with PINs, but ours do.

I can call Starbucks Customer Service to find out if they will give out account information without the PIN to be sure.

Leslee&Jake · #10 12-05-2006, 10:32 PM

I know at the restaurant I work at we keep the gift cards locked up and when someone buys them then we activate it. Most restaurants I have been to do it that way so those ones should be safe from this!

I cant believe the lows people will sink to!!

munchkin · #11 12-05-2006, 10:45 PM

We have to activate the cards at work, and you cannot use them online, so we don't have that problem luckily.

MattandMegan · #12 12-06-2006, 01:14 AM

Matt said something to me about this tonight before I even told him it was on here. An e-mail was sent out company-wide at Best Buy for employees to be on the lookout. Basically, they can't do anything without the PIN, so as long as that is not scratched off, you have no worries.

I can see a LOT of trouble in my future, however, with customers questioning our gift cards left and right!

labeadel · #13 12-06-2006, 05:12 AM

Thanks for posting that Shaks. And also thanks for including the link to Snopes. That's always the first place I go when I hear of things like this. You read my mind!