The LaSalle Police Service is warning holiday shoppers about multiple gift card scams still circulating in the community.
When purchasing gift cards, shoppers should be on the lookout for any tampering with the cards before they purchase. Often times scammers will alter the gift cards by
Constable Terry Seguin said people should also be aware of scammers encouraging people to buy gift cards to pay off debts or help loved ones.
"They're very believable they say the only way to pay this debt or to keep a loved one out of trouble or to keep yourself out of trouble is to go to the store and buy gift cards," said Constable Seguin.
To make more people aware of the scams, the LaSalle police service visited local stores and posted flyers about current scams.
"Some of these scams can be stopped right at the point of sale. If just the average person who's in the store sees somebody purchasing a high number of gift cards, maybe a senior grabbing a bunch of iTunes cards or Google Play cards, simply ask them. It may be for a legitimate reason but that simple one moment of asking them could prevent them from spending their hard-earned money and stop that fraud," said Deputy Chief Jason Woods.
Rexall store manager Loretta Kelly said she has personally stopped many people from falling victim to similar scams.
"We've had lots of issues where I've had little old ladies come in and they start buying those iTunes gift cards, like $5,000 and I try to say no, no, no, I've actually called LaSalle Police on a couple of occasions because they were so adamant," said Kelly.
In the last year, the LaSalle Police Service has received nearly 100 scam calls, 15 of which involved gift cards.
