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Gift card scams cost Americans millions! BBB's Jason Mesa reveals how thieves steal your money before you shop. Buy direct from cashier, inspect cards, and check balances to avoid being scammed this holiday season. #GiftCardScam #HolidayShopping #BBB #ScamAlert
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I'm senior neighborhood reporter Bobby
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Portivant here in Waco. You know, the
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busiest holiday shopping season is just
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around the corner and there's a scam
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that we really need to be talking about
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right now because it could actually
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impact your wallet before you even make
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a purchase.
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It is happening. It will happen.
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Gift card scams cost Americans nearly
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$217 million back in 2023. But how does
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this happen? And how can we avoid being
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a victim? Well, Jason Messa with the
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Better Business Bureau serving the heart
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of Texas says you should look at that
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gift card pretty closely before buying
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it and make sure that it doesn't look
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like it's been tampered with.
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They are going to stores and they're
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going to the back of the card and
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getting the ID, scanning it, and they
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enter that information as if they're
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purchasing it, but they don't actually
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buy the card. Uh they simply get on a
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notification list uh with that retailer,
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and as soon as that card is bought and
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loaded, they now have a note saying
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there's money to be made. So, they go in
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there and lift the money out of it,
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stealing the very money that you were
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going to give to somebody important this
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holiday season. And here's why. Jason
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says a best practice is to buy a gift
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card directly from the store where it's
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going to be used at, such as buying a
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Walmart gift card at Walmart and buying
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directly from a cashier and not using
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selfch checkout. If it's a store
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merchant card that you're buying from
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the actual store itself, that's even
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better because again, they can directly
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check if that card has already been has
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already been pre-registered or has funds
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loaded onto it. But, uh, again, the most
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you can do it with the cashier, a real
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actual cashier can will able to will be
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able to help you flag if that's been
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tampered with or if it's been
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registered. Yes.
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And here's some last safeguards to keep
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in mind. The Better Business Bureau says
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go ahead and pull that gift card from
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the back of the rack. They say those are
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less likely to be tampered with. And
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while you're checking out checking out
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your purchase, go ahead and have that
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gift card registered with the cashier.
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Also, the last thing to keep in mind
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before giving it to that person that
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it's intended for, go ahead and check
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the balance to make sure that you're not
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giving a Phantom gift card. Reporting
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here in Waco, I'm senior neighborhood
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reporter Bobby reports.
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