SHOPPERS have been warned over a gift card scam targeting victims over the phone.
Police say scammers will often pose as government officials collecting funds – convincing shoppers to use gift cards to make a payment.
Cops say the biggest way to avoid falling victim is to become aware of the common signs and schemes.
Collinsville, Oklahoma Police Chief Matthew Burke told News6, said: “The biggest thing I’d watch out for is people asking you to make payments via a gift card whether it be a Visa gift card, iTunes, or Walmart gift card.
“An official business or IRS or police department or wherever will not ask you to go to a store and buy gift cards to make the payment.”
In Collinsville, residents were getting calls from scammers and “were told that they owed money on their electric bill and that it would be shut off if they didn’t make an immediate payment,” Burke told The U.S Sun.
The call did not originate from the city and the person who got it is set on auto draft and was current on their payments, according to Burke.
Another person spoofed the police department number and told someone they had an outstanding fine, and they would be arrested if they didn’t pay it, Burke said.
“The person didn’t believe it thankfully and called us to report it,” said Burke.
“We have checked our phone records to make sure that the call did not originate internally and it did not.”
The challenge with these sorts of calls is…
