Newbie advice required for VISA gift cards

MoneySaverUK123

Someone I know in the US has asked me to buy them a VISA gift card. How do I do this please? I live in the UK, and it's intended purpose is for the US citizen to visit the UK, and to spend the card in this country. The value required to be put on to the gift card is 300GBP. Thanks a lot for any comments!

Willing2Learn

I am not too sure what you mean. Maybe you are looking for a prepaid Visa card, that you can load up with cash as a gift?

https://www.money.co.uk/prepaid-cards/prepaid-visa-cards.htm

[Deleted User]

Not my area of interest, but you'll find a few here.


https://www.moneysupermarket.com/prepaid-cards/

Is this for someone you know? Or is it one of these long distance internet affairs where one partner promises to come over as long as they get some spending money?

AndyPix

This sounds a lot like somebody is being scammed here .


Be careful OP , this is how lots of scams play out

MoneySaverUK123

Thanks a lot for all replies.



When you say "scam", what might happen? I'm not too sure I understand what I might be letting myself in for here!


What has happened so far is that the person in the US has sent me the money already, in GBP, for 300GBP, using PayPal. He wants some kind of "VISA gift card", loaded up with that amount of money, so that he can buy things with it, in the UK.


Could I still get scammed? What I'm looking for is a "one off" card, that once this money has been spent, it is not reloadable, and the card then becomes null and void. So, no monthly fees, etc etc. The card simply "dies" once the 300GBP has been used up.


And the user of this card, the person I gift the card to, cannot "see / access" any of my personal details.



Thanks a lot for any additional comments! They would be helpful and appreciated.

AndyPix

Couple of ways this could play out ..


You send the code for the untraceable pre-paid card , then you later find out that the £300 was send to you from a hacked paypal account and it is recalled and you are £300 down.


Or , the sender, after receiving your card, initiates a paypal dispute for the £300 and again you are £300 down.


If the person is coming to the UK then why could they simply not use cash ?
Think about it


It's called advance fee fraud and normally there is a 'carrot' - ie they send you £400 but only ask for £300 back .. Greedy people are more easily scammed


If you dont know this person very well indeed - and personally - ie family member or good old friend, then i wouldnt touch this with a bargepole

Dime_Bar

I cannot think of any reason why this would not be a scam.

How did they send you the money? How do you know them?

MoneySaverUK123

Thanks for all replies. So, you think that the person may attempt to get the money back, through PayPal, either via a PP dispute, or that their PP account is bogus. I know this person through previous successful ebay trade deals. He's bought 3 items from me in the past, paid for them, through PP, and left positive feedback for those 3 purchases on ebay.


I don't get the feeling that this is a fraud attempt. I will, however, ask him for a more detailed reason as to why he wants a VISA gift card.


Please can anyone also suggest other questions for me to ask this person, in an attempt to better understand the situation, so that I feel more comfortable with going ahead with this idea?


Thanks a lot!

Ebe_Scrooge

As others have said, this has SCAM written all over it in large capital letters painted with fluorescent day-glo paint.

Unless you know the person (family member or a "real" friend, i.e. not someone you've only messaged via the internet) and you are 100% certain of the reasons behind the request, then steer well clear. Why would any legitimate person need to do this ? They'd use cash or their own credit card for buying goods abroad.

Ebe_Scrooge

MoneySaverUK123 wrote: »

Please can anyone also suggest other questions for me to ask this person, in an attempt to better understand the situation, so that I feel more comfortable with going ahead with this idea?

The simplest one is to ask him why he can't simply use his own ordinary credit card to buy stuff like most people would. Or else bring cash with him, just the same as you would if you were going abroad on holiday.

AndyPix

Just refund the money and walk away - you are going to lose £300.


What rational reason would anyone have to request this from you ??


THINK