Your balance is zero,' Target shopper is told after losing $500 on gift card - the cash completely vanished

A TARGET shopper was left open-mouthed when she was told that the cash on her $500 gift card had been wiped.

Isai Kothandaraman was overjoyed when she was given the voucher by her boss.

But chaos ensued when the Fremont resident tried to redeem the token at her local store.

“I don’t want another person going through what I went through,” Isai told NBC Bay Area.

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“All of us got gift cards."

“We were very excited. So, I took my family out to Target. ‘Hey, we have a new gift card. Let’s purchase some things.’”

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“When we called customer service, they said, ‘Your balance is zero.’”

The retail giant has become the subject of a concerning pattern of swindlers tampering with the chain's gift cards.

In December, Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man named Ningning Sun while patrolling for shoplifters.

When officers combed Sun’s vehicle, they found over 5,000 Target gift cards.

“In these particular cases, it appears [Sun] was tampering with the sticky that covers the PIN,” said Adrianne McMillan, Deputy District Attorney in Sacramento County.

“The way that this is done is very sophisticated,” McMillan said. “The cards are taken without any sort of value on them, they’re tampered with in a way that is not detectable, then they’re re-shelved.”

The District Attorney’s office believes Sun didn’t act alone.

“It’s a serious fraud case. And we want to take it seriously,” McMillan said.

The U.S Sun has reached out to Target for comment.

WHAT IS A GIFT CARD SCAM?

A gift card scam comprises scammers stealing funds off a gift card they didn’t purchase and using it themselves.

The scam will vary depending on the type of gift card a victim has in their possession.

For example, Keeper Security noted some gift scams involve physical tampering, while others require the victim to send the card number and PIN to the scammer.

Two of the most common methods include the "boss gift card scam," and "authority gift card scams".

In a boss gift card scam, scammers use social engineering to pretend to be the victim’s boss - or even the CEO of the company.

Typically, boss gift card scams are carried out through email or text messages.

"The 'boss' will say something along the lines of 'I want to surprise employees with $100 gift cards, can you please purchase them without telling anyone'," Keeper Security explained.

"When the victim does what they’re told, they’re asked to send a picture of the purchased gift card receipt and eventually, the scammer will also ask them to send them the gift card numbers and PINs."

In authority gift card scams, threat actors will pretend to be the police, IRS, or some other government agency.

They do this to trick a victim into thinking that they owe the government money and if they don't pay up, they will get arrested.

"Once the scammer has lured the victim in, they tell them to pay their debts by purchasing gift cards and providing them with the gift card numbers and PIN codes," Keeper Security noted.

"If a victim falls for this gift card scam, there’s no way for them to get their money back since the 'payment' they made was through untraceable gift cards," it added.

HOW TO STAY SAFE

There are several steps smartphone owners can take to stay safe from gift card scams.

Check gift cards for physical tampering

Sometimes scammers physically tamper with gift cards to get money before a user even purchases them.

As such, you should be vigilant when purchasing physical gift cards to make sure they're unused.

"If anything about the seal on a gift card looks off, don’t buy it because it has likely been tampered with," Keeper Security explained.

"Be sure to also check that the gift card’s PIN is not showing. If the PIN is visible, do not purchase the gift card," it continued.

Purchase virtual gift cards instead

You're better off buying virtual gift cards from a provider's official website.

This eliminates the risk of a gift card being tampered with physically, which can keep you safe from gift card draining.

"As a safety precaution, stick to purchasing virtual gift cards from trusted online retailers," Keeper Security says on its website.

"Purchasing virtual gift cards from untrustworthy sources can result in you losing money if you unknowingly purchase them from a scammer."

Avoid requests that ask you to purchase gift cards

Never give financial information - gift cards included - to anyone who is demanding it over the phone.

No legitimate business or government agency will ever ask you to make payments over the phone, and they definitely will not ask you to purchase gift cards as a form of payment.

Anyone who is asking you to purchase multiple gift cards to pay them is almost always a scammer.

If you do fall for a gift card scam, report it to the gift card company and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).