After reading my article about how scammers conned a woman into sending them thousands of dollars in gift cards, a reader had a comment.
“After reading the story from the veteran’s widow, 10 minutes later, literally, I received the following email which I copied and pasted the text only (no links were added) to this comment box. I wanted you and your readers to see just how blatant these criminals are. Their use of the English language and grammar are dead giveaways also. I am thankful that I trust no one when they send emails regarding services I never used.”
The reader included an example of the email.
Another reader admitted they once fell for a similar scam:
“I got suckered into the gift card scam. I reported it to the police and about 8 months later I got an email from the DA in New York that I was part of a lawsuit against the guy and he ended up going to jail. I did not get any money back but I learned my lesson: DON’T PAY FOR ANYTHING WITH GIFT CARDS!!!!!!”
Both of you are dead on. The two important takeaways are:
- Don’t blindly trust anything that comes into your inbox. Verify everything.
- Don’t pay for anything with a gift card. Gift cards are for giving gifts.
Thanks for sharing the examples. You can’t show enough of them to keep reminding people of all the ways scammers will come at you.