I was recently scammed trying to sell a gift card on CL and floored by the level of sophistication involved. Without getting too much into the store involved, this store gift card doesn't use a magnetic strip but a bar code on the gift card at the physical store's POS.
I received a call from a "verified" number using the "STIR/SHAKEN" protocol asking about my gift card and if I was willing to call the store's gift card verification system to verify the balance of the card and conference him in. I had no issues with that as I was not giving the gift card number directly to anyone. Shortly afterwards, my gift card was completely drained at a location thousands of miles away.
Here is how I think the scam works -
The scammer was able to decipher the gift card numbers via the DTMF tones that your phone produces when numbers keys are pressed. Once he had those numbers, he was able to generate a bar code so he can use the funds at any store location.
I think my guard was lowered due to the scammer's phone number being "verified", spoke perfect English and had a plausible story on why he needed the gift card.
The funds involved weren't high (< $400) but I was shocked at how sophisticated these scammers have become.
Submitted October 16, 2021 at 11:43AM by us1549 https://ift.tt/3FQFdIh
