Someone won a fake gift card for this KC small business. How to avoid scams this holiday
In early November, a group of friends traveled to North Kansas City to enjoy what Sail Away Wine had in stock. The self-service wine bar is a favorite in the area, and the group had a $100 gift certificate from a year ago that they won in a charity auction.
They used the certificate to pay for everything, but they didn’t realize it was a counterfeit. The gift certificate used a bunch of old clips copied and pasted from Sail Away Wine’s website onto a Word document.
Sail Away manager Jay Hightower said the staff recognized that it wasn’t their regular gift certificate format. Some of the details on the certificate featured old logos.
The staff at the wine bar asked a few questions about where they got it. Hightower said the auction lines up since they often donate $100 certificates to local charity events.
All of their gift certificates are hand-written and signed off by the employee. Once they’re redeemed, they double-check the date to see if it matches up with a past gift certificate sale.
Hightower doesn’t feel like the group was trying to scam the bar, but rather that they were the recipients of a fraudulent gift card.
Hightower and the team at Sail Away Wine later found out that there were websites advertising gift certificates for the bar that were not actually affiliated with the business.
After some research on Better Business Bureau, Hightower found that these websites often received complaints about being a scam.
“I’m guessing somebody had to have generated a gift certificate as a prize for someone to bid on, so they just pocketed the money from the sale of the certificate,” Hightower said.
Now he’s warning local businesses and holiday shoppers to be on the lookout for anything suspicious around the holidays, when smaller shops, such as his, have gift certificates available.
WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
Hightower emphasized the importance of training staff on what to look for.
“We don’t have a physical gift card; all of ours are printed off on a piece of paper and a lot of the small businesses are going to be like that,” Hightower said. “That’s what makes us more of a target for these things because people can just generate a printed out piece of paper and not go through the whole card-swiping process.”
The Better Business Bureau also recommends the following for avoiding gift card scams:
Buy the gift card directly from the source.
If you’re buying a physical gift card, take a really good look at it. If it has any indications of tampering, such as wrinkles, tears or if the PIN is exposed on the back, it’s most likely compromised.
Research how to use the card. Every retailer has different rules for using their gift card, so look at their terms and conditions. For example, Sail Away Wine only sells gift cards in person, so if a website offers it online, you could get scammed.
Register your gift card with the place you bought the card for. It makes it easier to track how much money is on the card, and you’ll be able to notice if funds are missing.
Don’t delay using the money. The longer your card sits around, the more likely a cybercriminal can steal the balance.
Treat the gift card like cash. If the card is lost or stolen, report it to the issuer immediately through the phone number or on their website.
This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 7:30 AM.
