Waterloo Regional Police say 23 people were duped out of a combined $57,430 due to gift card scams over the first two months of this year.
That works out to an average loss of $2,100 per victim.
This falls on the heels of a treacherous 2020 in which 167 people suffered a combined loss of $293,867 due to similar frauds.
“Pre-paid gift cards are involved in many different types of scams including romance, lottery and extortion,” said Det. Const. Dan Cimermancic in a post on Twitter.
“Before making a purchase of a gift card, please stop and think. No legitimate company will expect you to pay them with a prepaid gift card.”
Police say in many cases, the scams began with an email or a phone call from someone the victims believed they knew.
The victim’s acquaintance, friend, employee, supervisor or church member would request they purchase gift cards from brands such as Google Play, ITunes, and Amazon while asking for activation pins.
Police say the numbers show that women were more likely to be duped than men and that people in their 70s were the most susceptible followed by those in their 20s.
In one case, police say a 51-year-old woman said a bank employee had phoned her to let her know she was the victim of credit card fraud.
The fraudster told her to purchase $1,000 in Google Play Cards and then provide the activation pins on the cards in order to track the suspect.
After the transaction was complete, the grifter then convinced her to make another $600 purchase. She reportedly caught wind of the scam when a third request was made.
In another instance, police say a 40-year-old man received an email from a fake boss asking for his phone number.
After he shared the digits, he got a test from the phony boss saying he was in a meeting and needed 10 $200 gift cards for clients along with the pin numbers to activate them, police say.
A second request was sent and followed through upon but afterwards he questioned it, and talked with his boss who denied making the request, according to police.
Police tell residents to confirm the legitimacy of any request and “have a self-initiated conversation with the alleged sender.”
They also warn to watch for urgent pleas to act quickly which have an emotional tinge and to trust your instincts.