By Sabrina Karl

Think that credit and debit cards are the number one target of scammers? Think again. The most frequently reported payment method tapped by fraudsters is gift cards, and according to the Federal Trade Commission, cases surged in 2021.

Gift cards are a scammer favorite because they are easy and familiar for people to buy, exceptionally easy to transfer to another person, and subject to fewer buyer protections.

The way it generally works is with a phone call from someone impersonating a government agency, utility company, or well-known business that many individuals have a relationship with. Calls reportedly from the Social Security Administration (SSA) are common, but so are calls pretending to be from Amazon or Apple.

The claim is often that there’s a security problem with the call recipient’s account, and that buying and transferring gift cards will alleviate the problem and allow the account to stay open and accessible. Fraudsters purporting to be from the SSA may even say the gift card transfer is necessary to avoid the victim being arrested.

Typically, the caller instructs the victim to buy multiple gift cards from a specified merchant. Target is the most common card request, followed by Google Play, Apple, eBay, and Walmart. Once the cards are secured, the scammer then instructs the victim to tell them the card’s numbers or send a photo of the back of the card.

According to the FTC, whenever someone demands to be paid with a gift card, that’s a scam. It’s that simple. If someone convinces you to buy gift cards and transfer the numbers, hang onto the card and your receipt, and report it to the card issuer right away. You’ll find contact information for some major gift cards at ftc.gov/giftcards. Then additionally report your experience to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.