Scammers are out scammin’
This morning, I opened my email to a heartbreaking discovery. Someone I work with outside of EPIC fell victim to the gift card scam.
What’s the gift card scam?
It’s a pretty simple scheme:
- A scammer spoofs the email or phone number (via text) of someone in position of power
- They send a message to various people saying it’s urgent that you purchase a gift card for some event, client, family member, etc.
- Then they push you into scratching off the back of the card and sending the codes to them
- The scammer then uses the codes to buy something or add money to their account
Some of the gift cards they urge you to buy are from Apple, Best Buy, and Amazon. They also sometimes ask you to get Visa gift cards.
The person who got scammed in this case purchased $200 in Apple gift cards and kept sending me the codes.
Thankfully, I believe the codes didn’t end up getting to the scammers.
I’ve seen this happen a number of times over the last few years.
If something seems weird, it likely is.
Stay safe out there.
