Madalena Corsi has owned a jewellery store in Vancouver for more than 20 years and she thought she’d seen every scam in the book until she fell for a gift card scam.
Corsi was duped after trading around $100 cash for what she thought was $300 in grocery gift cards.
She describes the alleged scammer as a someone who “looked like an accountant”, “a 50-year-old very trusting” with a ” peaches and cream complexion.”
He placed an order for $300 in gift cards saying it was for his mother’s birthday, but when it was time to pay he had no wallet, leaving and returning to say it was locked up in his car along with his keys. Corsi says the man phoned the tow company and carried out an elaborate conversation in front of her.
“He said I’ll leave you my Safeway gift cards that I got here for my birthday and I’ll be back in a hour, and of course he never came. At the end of the day just to satisfy my curiosity I went down to Safeway and of course they were not activated with zero balances” says Corsi.
Corsi is not alone, others are complaining to the Better Business Bureau about a similar scheme.
The Better Business Bureau is warning people to beware if someone offers you a valuable gift card for just a fraction of what it’s worth, step away.
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