Beware Of Gift Cards

Beware of gift card scams on Facebook

TAMPA, Fla. — Gifts are great and getting them is a big bonus. But, we’ve all heard about gift cards being misused in a variety of ways.

Tampa Police responded to more than 190 reports of gift card scams just in this week alone.

Josh, who didn’t want to give his last name, tweeted a warning about getting scammed this holiday season.

He received the following message from Facebook after a person he knows ordered a gift card.

He thought it was suspicious when a friend didn’t want to reach out to him for a few days after sending it to him, but when she later tried to reach out he realized the card was never sent.

Signs to look for in a "deal" that rises too quickly, often pic.twitter.com/9XF2G198RW — Josh Brandon (@james170407) November 21, 2014

Scammers use official looking flyers to target people, who are looking for a clean bill of health before making a purchase.

Other times, the scammers may say they've run out of gift cards, then ask the consumer to get another one. As if they won't be watched.

United.com’s sisters at The Pinpoint look for similar spotting warning signs to help prevent you from getting scammed.

“The best way is we have to try to teach people items to look out for if that, A, pertains to them, or B, pertains to their child or children,” said Ramila Solanki-Rouse with the Better Business Bureau Utica, NY office.

“Really watch the public folder and look for things that are asking for gift card information or identification before they ship out any order.”

When shopping online, some stores will offer video alerts and reminders so you can choose the right one.

Stop Thieving says to watch out for all kinds of reports or play that comes on your smartphone, display, or email.

Watch for bad spelling and grammar.

Avoid clicking on any attachments.

Don’t ever reveal your Social Security Number or personally identifying information.

Scammers could be calling you back to verify a order or payment, or trying to track you down.

Scams come in all shapes and sizes. Of course, there’s the classic grift involving the con man: namely, the Nigerian scam.

We are told that these scammers con victims out of a total of $5.2 billion a year, most of it spent on sending cash.

An article published recently in the South African art journal Art & Criticism takes in an art trend popular in recent years. Artivism is a contemporary art practice that uses politics, identities and rights of ownership to fight inequality.

Artivism is a term popularised by artists Bea Riley and Suzanne Porath. The contemporary art practice aims to use the arts as a tool to create new narratives, foster social justice, foster real democracy and bring about long-lasting social change.

A recent example is "Show Us Your Cash" – a massive art exhibition that held in Melbourne in March this year. Artivism meant artists "encounter art's inherent ability to raise complex issues".

Like any scam, artivism exists to induce fear.

But there is no way it could be similar to artivism, which is an art practise, not a scam. Artivism uses art as a tool to address real social problems, not to benefit art institutions. It uses art to change the rules of art – to make art relevant to the concerns

Other, more sophisticated scams are also created by the desperate, including e-dating frauds.

We learn that “adultery scams” cost Americans nearly $1 billion annually.

For the scammers, it’s all a scam.

In the meantime, about 73 million Americans are scammed annually.