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Gift card scams are nothing new, but there is a new avenue for thieves to go after your money.
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HENDRY COUNTY — Gift card scams are nothing new, but there is a new avenue for thieves to go after your money. While criminals have relied on prepaid debit cards, Green Cards or iTunes gift cards for everything from IRS scams to fake online buying and selling; the latest “currency” is Google Play cards. As a result, Google Play gift card scams are on the rise and have already targeted at least one member of our community.
The victim reported that he had received a call from an individual claiming to be from the FBI. The “FBI agent” told the victim his vehicle had been located in Texas with drugs and guns in it. They then told him to purchase two Google Play Cards and to place a specified amount of money on each card then to provide them with the scratch off numbers on the back of the cards. After doing so the callers told the victim they would be responding to the victim’s location to collect more money. (HCSO officials highly doubt that would have happened).
A nearby friend that had become aware of the scam, contacted Google Customer Service to determine if the cards had the funds taken off of them yet. While she was able to provide them with all the information Customer Service needed, Google Customer Service notified them the funds had already been removed from the card and distributed to other accounts.
What to do if you become a victim of a google play card scam
• Report the scam to proper authorities immediately! Report the scam to your local police department and the Federal Trade Commission.
• Any information that you can give will allow us to investigate and may help us prevent future scams.
Avoid scams n the future
Scammers can use different ways to trick people into providing Google Play gift cards.
In most situations, the scammers will call, saying that you owe money for taxes, bail money, debt collection, and more. Then they’ll tell you that to avoid getting arrested, or getting your SSN, or physical items taken, you have to pay them using gift cards.
• Google Play gift card codes can only be used to buy on the Google Play Store. Google Play gift cards cannot be used to pay for taxes, concert tickets, bail money or any other items that are not on the Google Play Store.
• Never provide gift card codes to anyone that you do not know as payment. Once you provide the codes to a scammer, they’ll likely spend the funds on the card immediately.
Google asks its users to remember two very important truths about Google Play gift card scams, and these are true of any kind of reloadable payment card.
• First, it can never be used for any purpose other than downloading content from the Google Play Store.
• Second, you must protect the number like cash. No one will ever have a genuine reason to ask you for the number from the back of a card.
Take away: Never provide any personal information including gift card codes like Google Play in an email or on the phone. What seems like the information is going to a trusted source, it could be a scam.
