Gift Card Scam

RefluentBeans

Money_Grabber13579 said:

user1977 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

RefluentBeans said:

Okell said:

MSE_James said:

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.

Tax bills?

Yeah you’ll be surprised. Often via phone. Claiming to be ‘investigators’ and that you’ve underpaid your council tax/income tax and now owe £1000. Offering to settle for £500 now, or they’ll initiate a criminal charge for you and have you arrested. 

99% don’t fall for it - but 1% do. With phone numbers you can look up who owns them from data leaks, and get their name and other scraps of information. Sometimes that’s enough to convince someone that they’re legitimate. Plus placing pressure on someone etc. 

There’s loads of Scam Baiters online who upload them to YouTube that talk through how the scam works. Jim Browning is a UK YouTuber who uploads more UK/European scams. 

What has that got to do with gift cards though? Is that not a completely separate scam? Of course, I’m assuming here that ‘HMRC’ don’t ring you up and say you’ve underpaid tax but if you send us a gift card, we’ll call it quits…Surely no one would fall for that?

Surely nobody would fall for "hello I'm the chair of the council and I need you to buy some gift cards even though it's something we've never done before and sounds a bit weird and this might not even be an email address you've seen before"...

Not a completely separate scam really.

I guess my thinking was that it could be a lot more plausible that a council chief might ask a staff member to get hold of a few gift cards to reward staff, prizes for a recycling competition etc than it would be for HMRC to start asking for payment of tax in gift cards. After all, what is the government going to do with thousands of gift cards if everyone opted to pay their tax in that manner (if it were possible)?

Again, the scam relies on pressuring people. Many of which are vulnerable. But shaming victims legitimately doesn’t solve anything. 

Money_Grabber13579

RefluentBeans said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

user1977 said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

RefluentBeans said:

Okell said:

MSE_James said:

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.

Tax bills?

Yeah you’ll be surprised. Often via phone. Claiming to be ‘investigators’ and that you’ve underpaid your council tax/income tax and now owe £1000. Offering to settle for £500 now, or they’ll initiate a criminal charge for you and have you arrested. 

99% don’t fall for it - but 1% do. With phone numbers you can look up who owns them from data leaks, and get their name and other scraps of information. Sometimes that’s enough to convince someone that they’re legitimate. Plus placing pressure on someone etc. 

There’s loads of Scam Baiters online who upload them to YouTube that talk through how the scam works. Jim Browning is a UK YouTuber who uploads more UK/European scams. 

What has that got to do with gift cards though? Is that not a completely separate scam? Of course, I’m assuming here that ‘HMRC’ don’t ring you up and say you’ve underpaid tax but if you send us a gift card, we’ll call it quits…Surely no one would fall for that?

Surely nobody would fall for "hello I'm the chair of the council and I need you to buy some gift cards even though it's something we've never done before and sounds a bit weird and this might not even be an email address you've seen before"...

Not a completely separate scam really.

I guess my thinking was that it could be a lot more plausible that a council chief might ask a staff member to get hold of a few gift cards to reward staff, prizes for a recycling competition etc than it would be for HMRC to start asking for payment of tax in gift cards. After all, what is the government going to do with thousands of gift cards if everyone opted to pay their tax in that manner (if it were possible)?

Again, the scam relies on pressuring people. Many of which are vulnerable. But shaming victims legitimately doesn’t solve anything. 

I certainly wasn’t trying to shame anyone, if that’s what you are implying. I was genuinely curious as to whether anyone would be convinced that HMRC would want tax liabilities paid in gift cards. This is in contrast with the OP where I can very easily see how someone could be convinced to buy gift cards. But the links provided show that it clearly happens.

To me, the old proverb of “pride comes before a fall” is very applicable - I would never want to gloat over someone else’s misfortune. After all, I would never know when I might be taken in by a scam (albeit, I really hope that I’m not).

Pollycat

tightauldgit said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

RefluentBeans said:

Okell said:

MSE_James said:

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.

Tax bills?

Yeah you’ll be surprised. Often via phone. Claiming to be ‘investigators’ and that you’ve underpaid your council tax/income tax and now owe £1000. Offering to settle for £500 now, or they’ll initiate a criminal charge for you and have you arrested. 

99% don’t fall for it - but 1% do. With phone numbers you can look up who owns them from data leaks, and get their name and other scraps of information. Sometimes that’s enough to convince someone that they’re legitimate. Plus placing pressure on someone etc. 

There’s loads of Scam Baiters online who upload them to YouTube that talk through how the scam works. Jim Browning is a UK YouTuber who uploads more UK/European scams. 

What has that got to do with gift cards though? Is that not a completely separate scam? Of course, I’m assuming here that ‘HMRC’ don’t ring you up and say you’ve underpaid tax but if you send us a gift card, we’ll call it quits…Surely no one would fall for that?

Sadly that's pretty much what they do and people do fall for it. I mean people fell for the Nigerian prince wanting to send them millions of dollars so there's always some section of people who will fall for things. I guess they prey on the vulnerable - it's just a numbers game send out enough emails or letters and you'll get a few bites. 

I think there's a big difference between what happened to the OP's wife and those people who fall for the 'send me a sum of money and I'll reward you with millions of dollars' scam.

The OP's wife was not trying to 'make a quick buck'.
She was simply doing what she thought was her job.

I have different scales of sympathy for victims of scams and I can see how the OP's wife fell for this.

tightauldgit

Pollycat said:

tightauldgit said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

RefluentBeans said:

Okell said:

MSE_James said:

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.

Tax bills?

Yeah you’ll be surprised. Often via phone. Claiming to be ‘investigators’ and that you’ve underpaid your council tax/income tax and now owe £1000. Offering to settle for £500 now, or they’ll initiate a criminal charge for you and have you arrested. 

99% don’t fall for it - but 1% do. With phone numbers you can look up who owns them from data leaks, and get their name and other scraps of information. Sometimes that’s enough to convince someone that they’re legitimate. Plus placing pressure on someone etc. 

There’s loads of Scam Baiters online who upload them to YouTube that talk through how the scam works. Jim Browning is a UK YouTuber who uploads more UK/European scams. 

What has that got to do with gift cards though? Is that not a completely separate scam? Of course, I’m assuming here that ‘HMRC’ don’t ring you up and say you’ve underpaid tax but if you send us a gift card, we’ll call it quits…Surely no one would fall for that?

Sadly that's pretty much what they do and people do fall for it. I mean people fell for the Nigerian prince wanting to send them millions of dollars so there's always some section of people who will fall for things. I guess they prey on the vulnerable - it's just a numbers game send out enough emails or letters and you'll get a few bites. 

I think there's a big difference between what happened to the OP's wife and those people who fall for the 'send me a sum of money and I'll reward you with millions of dollars' scam.

The OP's wife was not trying to 'make a quick buck'.
She was simply doing what she thought was her job.

I have different scales of sympathy for victims of scams and I can see how the OP's wife fell for this.

I think you've missed my point which wasn't in reference to the OP at all or appropriate levels of sympathy but rather that people can be caught out by all sorts of things that on the face of them seem implausible in the cold light of day. 

Pollycat

tightauldgit said:

Pollycat said:

tightauldgit said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

RefluentBeans said:

Okell said:

MSE_James said:

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.

Tax bills?

Yeah you’ll be surprised. Often via phone. Claiming to be ‘investigators’ and that you’ve underpaid your council tax/income tax and now owe £1000. Offering to settle for £500 now, or they’ll initiate a criminal charge for you and have you arrested. 

99% don’t fall for it - but 1% do. With phone numbers you can look up who owns them from data leaks, and get their name and other scraps of information. Sometimes that’s enough to convince someone that they’re legitimate. Plus placing pressure on someone etc. 

There’s loads of Scam Baiters online who upload them to YouTube that talk through how the scam works. Jim Browning is a UK YouTuber who uploads more UK/European scams. 

What has that got to do with gift cards though? Is that not a completely separate scam? Of course, I’m assuming here that ‘HMRC’ don’t ring you up and say you’ve underpaid tax but if you send us a gift card, we’ll call it quits…Surely no one would fall for that?

Sadly that's pretty much what they do and people do fall for it. I mean people fell for the Nigerian prince wanting to send them millions of dollars so there's always some section of people who will fall for things. I guess they prey on the vulnerable - it's just a numbers game send out enough emails or letters and you'll get a few bites. 

I think there's a big difference between what happened to the OP's wife and those people who fall for the 'send me a sum of money and I'll reward you with millions of dollars' scam.

The OP's wife was not trying to 'make a quick buck'.
She was simply doing what she thought was her job.

I have different scales of sympathy for victims of scams and I can see how the OP's wife fell for this.

I think you've missed my point which wasn't in reference to the OP at all or appropriate levels of sympathy but rather that people can be caught out by all sorts of things that on the face of them seem implausible in the cold light of day. 

I didn't miss your point at all.
I was merely expressing my opinion on the different types of scams and how I feel towards the victims.