Gift cards continue to be one of the most popular gifts for the holiday season. The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that in 2022, the average consumer will buy 3.2 gift cards with an average value of $51.47.
Total spending on gift cards in 2022 is estimated to top $28.6 billion, with restaurant, department store and bank-issued cards being the most popular.
But gift card scams also continue to rise as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned last year ahead of the holiday season.
Today, the IRS issued a new warning about scammers asking taxpayers to pay fictitious tax bills with gift cards, and the timing seems to be related due the popularity of gift cards during the holiday season.
The scam usually starts with a con artist posting as an IRS agent contacting the person by phone, email, text message or through social media, claiming the taxpayer has a tax liability or is linked to a criminal activity.
To pay the fictitious tax bill and clean up the situation immediately to avoid further collection efforts (harassment), the scammer will coerce the person to buy gift cards from various stores and provide the “agent” with the gift card number and pin.
That’s all the con artists need to use the gift cards, as both pieces of information allow scammers to make purchases online.
The IRS warns that it generally will “first mail a bill to any taxpayer who owes taxes” and never “demand that taxpayers pay taxes without the opportunity to question or appeal the…
