Perpetrators increasingly brazen

Gift cards: the new gold of fraudster gangs

Unscrupulous fraudsters mainly target elderly, gullible victims.(Bild: Evelyn Hronek)

Unscrupulous criminals take tens of thousands of euros from a Klagenfurt woman (78) - as reported using so-called gift cards. This has become a common scam. And the fraudsters are becoming increasingly brazen. The "Krone" spoke to one of the victims.

First, the perpetrators asked the victim (78) to transfer money - then the pensioner was suddenly asked to buy gift cards and give them the codes. "Older people hardly ever use online banking and go to their local bank to make transfers. However, employees are now trained to deal with such scams - and ideally become suspicious of unusual transactions by their regular customers. But the fraudsters already know this," explains one investigator.

And so the unscrupulous criminals are increasingly relying on gift cards. Even if no money flows, they can either resell the "gifted" credit or use it to buy goods - and ultimately turn it into money on the black market or on various online sales platforms. And all this without the risk of bank transactions being traced.

Perpetrators redeemed codes immediately after purchase 
An 80-year-old fell for the same scam. He was informed by telephone that he had supposedly won the lottery. However, processing fees would be charged. This pensioner also first transferred over a thousand euros before the perpetrators switched to "voucher mode". "I bought two vouchers and gave them the codes over the phone. The next day, I was supposed to buy more vouchers from exactly the same store," the victim told the "Krone" newspaper.

Which the gullible victim finally did in the hope of winning big. Shortly afterwards, however, the fraud was discovered thanks to a family member - and at least the last eight voucher cards purchased, with a total value of almost 3,000 euros, seemed to be safe. Wrong: although the respective codes had not yet been passed on, they had already been redeemed.

Investigators appeal to supermarkets
"This suggests that the perpetrators photographed the codes in advance in the store, observed the victim and waited for them to pay at the till and thus activate the gift cards," an investigator told Krone. In many stores, these cards are still hanging in front of the checkout - and nobody notices when they are opened and closed again. "Supermarket employees should also question when a pensioner buys several voucher cards with a high value," says the criminalist.