As gift cards have gotten more popular over the years, they’re increasingly targeted by scammers as an easy way to steal money from innocent victims. Older Americans can be especially vulnerable. But what’s so vitally important is consumer awareness, and that’s why Best Buy has joined with AARP to launch a campaign to help people protect themselves.
These scams are always evolving, but there are some common things to look out for. Anyone who unexpectedly calls you asking for payment by gift card is a scammer. Gift cards can only be used to purchase products and services, and cannot be used to pay legal fees, bail, taxes or anything else. We remind people to never provide your gift card number and pin to anyone you don’t know, because once those numbers are gone, so is your money.
Watch the video below to learn more about these types of scams, and how to protect yourself against them. If we all help spread the word, we can help stop the scam.
FRAUD AND SENIORS:
The BEST product enhancement the company could make on the new flip phone for seniors would be the ability to BLOCK ALL callers NOT in their contact list/phonebook. The new flip has the ability to block a number one by one, but that doesn’t do much good when the senior answers the call to begin with.
My dad was scammed by the 876 area code Jamaican Lottery. He has early dementia so he doesn’t know NOT to answer calls he doesn’t recognize. It would be MOST beneficial to have a new feature on the flip phone to block all calls from numbers not in his contact list. Similar to the DO NOT DISTURB except from favorites feature on a smart phone. Surely this wouldn’t be hard to do?!?!