Apparently people are stealing gift cards off the shelf, taking them home, cutting off the top of the gift card then resealing the gift card and putting it back on the shelf. So when you buy the gift card the gift card can't be used.
Police are saying to make sure the gift card feels the right size and open it at the register as you buy it.


https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8aAgQD5/

give the gift of cash , you know it's good they know it's good it fits in an envelope and it spends everywhere

All kinds of scams with cards going around. So bad with some stores/cards the stores/merchandising companies are having to pull them off the shleves and destroy them.

Gift cards have always seemed moronic to me. They basically say I don't know you well enough or care enough to buy you a gift you actually want, so I am going to give you something like cash, that limits your choices and will likely expire before you get to use it or force you to spend more to use it all.

Keith

What’s the scam then? The cards need to be activated if not activated who's getting paid then? The cards on the racks are useless until you pick and pay the amount on it. The last one I got a buddy for spending a couple weeks at his place. Then the lady at Wally World gave me the scam talk she asked if I was sending it someone as a payment.

The scam is, when they cut the scratch off bar off the card and put the card back in the holder, people will buy that card not knowing the scratch off code has been cut off.
Unknowingly they buy it, thus activating the scratch off code that the thief has. They will keep trying that code until it works.

I see we think the same on this. My exception is if I can get a 100$ gift card for $80 like I did recently at a restaurant my mother eats at several times a week. To me it was geting a $20 discount for pre paying a week or two in advance.

I buy one gift card a year , for my great aunt to go out for a fish fry and have a drink at a supper club with a good fish fry.
and it is the kind that is a print out from the super club hand written in amount and signed.
if I sent cash she would probably send it back to me in a card

I send gift cards that I mail out to family halfway across the country. They enjoy the gift and it is thoughtfully bought. They are "forced" to go to a restaurant or store that is sometimes different and theyv told me it's always great to do something new. I'll also send gas cards to the kids in college so they don't blow all their cash on beer and pizza lol

I disagree. My wife is into crafting. I have no idea what that stuff is, but she does, and a gift card to the crafting store lets her get what she wants. Same goes for the gift card I get for trapping supplies. That is a great gift.

My wife got myself and the kids some last Christmas, some green dot bank, what a scam, had to call to register the card, had to get activation number, couldn’t spend it till got approval, monthly fee if you didn’t spend it. What a money grab.

I use gift cards for online purchases.

I've never heard of anything like this. Where were the cards for?
Buy a gift card for a specific store. No card registration, no monthly fees and no expiration date.

Not for a specific store, could be used wherever you wanted, if you could use it, I finally got my money minus a little fee deduction, my wife got sooo frustrated she just gave the kids cash. Never again.

Green dot cards are reloadable debit cards. They are not the same as gift cards.

Not all of them have monthly fees.

Good to know. I've never heard of Green Dot or a gift card with monthly fee. I know visa gift cards are reloadable & have an activation fee when you buy it but that's it.

Green dot is the bank behind most of the reloadable debit cards. All the ones at Walmart are green dot.

Why not just give each other cash then?

Keith

A contractor I use gives me a $100 Bass Pro card every year at Christmas. I'm always happy to get that one!