Scams are not new, but scammers are always finding new ways to take your money or identity (among other things).
Recently, there have been some new flavors of scams in our community, which are highlighted below.
GIFT CARDS
Our Police Department arrested two men who were altering gift cards at the Target in Springfield Town Center on Dec. 20 (and had done the same thing earlier in the day at a Target store in Manassas). Officers saw the two men stocking the shelves with gift cards and detained them. They were found to be in possession of altered Target gift cards. The cards are suspected of being linked to an outside account, which takes money from a would-be buyer and deposits it into the fraudster’s gift card account instead of the buyer’s. A search of the suspect’s vehicle uncovered numerous altered Target gift cards and evidence of a larger fraud ring in the region and extending into states across the country.
We suggest following the below tips whenever purchasing a gift card from a retail store:
- Inspect the Packaging: Check the gift card packaging for any signs of tampering or resealing. Look for broken seals, loose corners or any other indications that the packaging has been altered.
- Check the Activation Sticker: Many gift cards have an activation sticker or label on the back. Make sure the activation sticker is intact and has not been peeled off or replaced. Altered cards may have a different activation sticker or a sticker that looks suspicious.
CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Our Police Department recently noted an increase in Bitcoin and crypto-related scams reported within the county, with the majority of victims being elderly. In almost a dozen reported cases since the end of October, our investigators have observed a trend in scams involving cryptocurrency. For example a 76-year-old person was scammed into depositing $21,000 into a crypto ATM.
How can you or a loved one/friend avoid being the next victim?
Verify Caller Identities: Always confirm the identity of the person or organization contacting you, especially if they request personal information or financial transactions. Apple, Microsoft, Norton, MacAfee, eBay, PayPal, Amazon or Google will never call you on the phone and ask for any kind of payment. It is a good idea to hang up and call the institution using their known contact information from official websites.
Be Skeptical of Unsolicited Calls: Anyone who calls you on the phone asking for payments with gift cards of any kind (Greendot, iTunes, Google Play, Target, Walmart, etc.) should be considered suspicious and it is likely a scam. Other fraud indicators are requests for money through wire transfers (MoneyGram, Western Union, Walmart to Walmart, Zelle, Venmo, CashApp).
AI GRANDCHILDREN
You may have heard of the grandparent scam. If not, it goes like this: the phone rings and you pick up, only to hear the voice of a person you believe is your grandchild. They explain that they have been in an accident, or arrested, or kidnapped, and are begging you to immediately send money to help them.
This scam originally relied on a scammer’s ability to do a decent impersonation of your loved one’s voice, but scammers are now using artificial intelligence (AI) to make the scam even more convincing. To clone a voice, a scammer needs a sound bite between three and 30 seconds long. The longer the sound bite, the better the clone. The scammer uses AI voice-generating software to analyze what makes a person’s voice unique, then produces a very convincing cloned voice that they employ in the scam. Think about all the times our voices and the voices of our loved ones have been recorded and are available online, especially on social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
MORE SCAMS
Learn about additional scams through our audio series, Scam Slam, in partnership with AARP.
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