A man from St. Catharines, Ontario, took to Facebook this week to share a new scam affecting gift cards sold in Ontario.
Ed Hildebrandt says in a post that he learned of the scam when trying to use a gift card for The Keg, purchased by his sister who verified its authenticity. The waiter, who was unable to process the card, informed the family that faulty gift cards were being presented at the location as frequently as 3 times a week.
The details of the scam are explained in his facebook post, which reads:
“So this happened last night. We were out for a nice dinner at the Keg in St. Catharines for my mother-in-law’s Birthday. When we went to pay for our meal with a Keg gift card. The server tried swiping it and it would not work. He looked at it closely and told us it is fraudulent and it had been compromised. There was a sticker covering the barcode with a barcode for a different card that the fraudster had. This card was bought by my sister in law who was dining with us. She verified that it was purchased legitimately at a shoppers drug mart.
The server said they are getting a few of these a week.
What these thieves are doing are putting these stickers on legitimate cards and then the cashiers are unknowingly scanning the barcode and loading a different card for the thief.
The manager and server were so kind and helpful but they could not do anything for us. They asked us to contact their Gift Card Guest Services Department to see if they can do anything for us.
So be aware and check to see if there is a sticker on the barcode of any gift card you buy now.
Thanks for listening and if this helps 1 or 2 people from getting ripped off… that’s great!!!”
Buyers are advised to check the barcodes of gift cards before purchasing, to make sure that no other barcode has been placed on top.
