Gift Card Scam

soolin

RefluentBeans said:

user1977 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

lincroft1710 said:

Unless it's a regular request (which does seem unusual) why would the chairman of a parish council want 3 x £100 Apple Gift Cards.

If the council had their email hacked there may be some liability there.

Do parish councillors even typically use a "corporate" email address? I would guess they're quite likely to conduct business using their personal addresses, which would make it even less obvious whether it's a fake one, unless the recipient takes the trouble to check.

I think if they don’t - then this is wake up call that this specific parish council needs. If they have a website, most hosting services offer free/very low cost emails (admittedly, bare bones and not G-Suite or O365). But enough to get by with. And some now have 2FA on email logins. 

Doesn’t solve spoofing attacks and the such, but at least adds an extra layer of security. 

I think this needs attention of all small businesses and entities. Whilst it’s easy to look at something like this as ‘I would never fall for something like that’; all it takes is for you to have a brain fart or feel really sleepy or distracted and it’ll happen. Having steps in place to force someone to take a step back before committing to it is key. 

People need to talk about the scams they’ve experienced and not be shot down with ‘why’d you ever think that was real’. It can happen to anyone. The more we learn the less common these attacks are. 

I do sort of agree but on the other hand how many times can scams be covered before people stop bothering reading the warnings out of fatigue and how do you get vulnerable people, or those likely to fall for them, to read those warnings? 

A very quick search on here with very little effort turned up all these

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6396312/elderly-parents-scammed

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6135201/need-help-gift-card-fraud

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5762408/hmrc-warns-on-itunes-gift-card-scam

RefluentBeans

I do agree - but I think acknowledging these things happen, and then acting on them is the best way to move forward. Like clearly in this case, there was a protocol that should’ve been in place. Whether that was a second signatory or something else. I don’t necessarily mean discussions on here, but definitely locally. If it happens to someone you personally know then it’s more hard hitting than ‘elderly pensioner loses £5000 to scammers’. 

born_again

monkeyvanish said:

Hi, sorry if this has been posted before, a quick search didn't turn anything up and I didn't want to lose time in case we need to act quickly.

My wife fell victim to a gift card scam on Tuesday - she is the clerk of the local parish council and received an e-mail that purported to be from the council chair urgently asking for 3 £100 Apple gift cards.

She immediately complied with the request on her own credit card (Mastercard) as the council does not have a purchasing bank card. She sent the codes via e-mail but the lightbulb went off shortly afterwards and she realised she had been scammed. She of course contacted our bank (Santander) immediately to advise of the situation and they reassured her that they would help her resolve the issue.

They have just called her and asked a long list of questions, at the end they told her they would not refund the balance as she didn't speak directly to the scammer. She didn't do this as the e-mail specifically said the person they were impersonating was busy and in meetings (I assume this is common wording).

Are they really able to just wash their hands of this even though we reported immediately? I can't believe that this is the end of it, there must be some way we can take this matter further, has anyone got any ideas or experience with this?

Many thanks in advance

Sorry this has happened, Sadly bank are right. As it was instigated by your good lady.

Any reason the parish council can not refund? Given the request method.

They need to contact chair as it odds on be their email that has been compromised & same email sent to all contacts.
I would also get her to get all in this council together & get them to check the security of their systems, how to check & avoid such scams.
If they are using personal emails, then a council based system needs setting up. Which I would speak to the council above you, as they should have IT staff that could advise & possible set up such a system.
These IT staff would also be a good resource for advise on how to avoid. As odds on they will have training for staff on these issues.
We have video's etc to watch around this & even IT send out emails in the same vain, anyone not reporting as spam, gets the lovely joy of a day in the office watching all of these & a reprimand for not following procedures. 

As well as setting up a system for any requests for funds etc, that require more than one method of contact. So if anyone requests such as this, that the person requesting, will be contacted by another method to confirm the request. Even if it is physically visiting them.

Where were the cards sent to?


This is another in the long line of variations of this, which included one from HMRC that you owed tax. Would you please pay via apple gift cards....

Abbafan1972

Just a question - what do the scammers do with the gift cards? Surely they can’t be exchanged for cash? 

Flugelhorn

Abbafan1972 said:

Just a question - what do the scammers do with the gift cards? Surely they can’t be exchanged for cash? 

I wonder if they sell them for the 80% quoted by someone in one of the threads - people buying probably think they are getting a bargain and the scammers still get £800 in this case

tightauldgit

Abbafan1972 said:

Just a question - what do the scammers do with the gift cards? Surely they can’t be exchanged for cash? 

Sell them. Or use them to buy stuff that can be resold.

A lot of these scammers are well established networks that can turn things over in a flash

user1977

born_again said:

monkeyvanish said:

Hi, sorry if this has been posted before, a quick search didn't turn anything up and I didn't want to lose time in case we need to act quickly.

My wife fell victim to a gift card scam on Tuesday - she is the clerk of the local parish council and received an e-mail that purported to be from the council chair urgently asking for 3 £100 Apple gift cards.

She immediately complied with the request on her own credit card (Mastercard) as the council does not have a purchasing bank card. She sent the codes via e-mail but the lightbulb went off shortly afterwards and she realised she had been scammed. She of course contacted our bank (Santander) immediately to advise of the situation and they reassured her that they would help her resolve the issue.

They have just called her and asked a long list of questions, at the end they told her they would not refund the balance as she didn't speak directly to the scammer. She didn't do this as the e-mail specifically said the person they were impersonating was busy and in meetings (I assume this is common wording).

Are they really able to just wash their hands of this even though we reported immediately? I can't believe that this is the end of it, there must be some way we can take this matter further, has anyone got any ideas or experience with this?

Many thanks in advance

Any reason the parish council can not refund? Given the request method.

They need to contact chair as it odds on be their email that has been compromised & same email sent to all contacts.
I would also get her to get all in this council together & get them to check the security of their systems, how to check & avoid such scams.

We don't know from the OP that the email was actually from the councillor's email address at all - you could easily take in many people with a different (but possibly very similar) address. Or they may even try to explain it away, e.g. "I am sending this from my personal email because it is very urgent / confidential and it's the weekend / I'm abroad" etc.

MeteredOut

People need to talk about the scams they’ve experienced and not be shot down with ‘why’d you ever think that was real’. It can happen to anyone. The more we learn the less common these attacks are. 

There was a whole series called "Scam Interceptors" on day-time telly earlier this year, and the gift-card scam was covered multiple times. One was very similar to this where someone in the parish church had their email compromised and the scammer got someone else to buy gift cards.

Anyone who has any relatives they feel could fall for these scams should ask them to watch it.

MSE_James

The gift card displays in many supermarkets now carry warning notices that gift cards can't be used to settle tax bills etc, as a result of these types of scam.

tightauldgit

I really think people need to just operate on the assumption that any unsolicited request for money you receive is a scam until proven otherwise. Certainly ANY request that asks you to pay in gift cards, pay to receive money, asks to overpay and then refund is not legitimate.