Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - buy/selling gift cards

Calgary14 · 03-10-2015, 09:28 AM

I buy gift cards regularly for decent discounts. I don't usually pay retail for anything and discounted gift cards is one way I achieve that. For some reason a lot of the scams use Home Depot and for that reason I avoid them. Any card with a discount of higher than 40% usually isn't legit. I always meet the person in the store to verify but lately even that isn't enough. Scammers use a stolen credit card to buy gift cards. The gift cards are legit but once the store figures out they were bought with stolen credit cards they get cancelled. This usually takes a couple weeks depending on the store and by that time the scammer is long gone since they've already sold the gift card.

Best way to protect yourself is to verify in store and buy the item you want immediately. The longer you wait the greater the chance something could happen. Also if the card has the pin visible (at the back) the person can use the card number and pin to make a purchase online even if they don't have the physical card. That's why it's key to buy the item right away. In general I don't buy gift cards with a value higher than $300-400. On Kijiji it's a good idea to view what else the seller has for sale. If they are selling 5 gift cards for $500 each and claim they don't want them because they were a "gift" it's likely a scam.

Also important to consider which store the card is for. A gift card for Chapters can have a discount of 20-40% but a gift card for Costco usually sells for around 90% of it's value because they're in higher demand.

03-10-2015, 09:28 AM	#2
Calgary14 First Line Centre Join Date: Jan 2014 Exp:	I buy gift cards regularly for decent discounts. I don't usually pay retail for anything and discounted gift cards is one way I achieve that. For some reason a lot of the scams use Home Depot and for that reason I avoid them. Any card with a discount of higher than 40% usually isn't legit. I always meet the person in the store to verify but lately even that isn't enough. Scammers use a stolen credit card to buy gift cards. The gift cards are legit but once the store figures out they were bought with stolen credit cards they get cancelled. This usually takes a couple weeks depending on the store and by that time the scammer is long gone since they've already sold the gift card. Best way to protect yourself is to verify in store and buy the item you want immediately. The longer you wait the greater the chance something could happen. Also if the card has the pin visible (at the back) the person can use the card number and pin to make a purchase online even if they don't have the physical card. That's why it's key to buy the item right away. In general I don't buy gift cards with a value higher than $300-400. On Kijiji it's a good idea to view what else the seller has for sale. If they are selling 5 gift cards for $500 each and claim they don't want them because they were a "gift" it's likely a scam. Also important to consider which store the card is for. A gift card for Chapters can have a discount of 20-40% but a gift card for Costco usually sells for around 90% of it's value because they're in higher demand.