Gift Card Scam… Yes, it is easy to become a victim

Fraudsters use gift cards for purposes of money-laundering, but recently this has grown into a scam where they reach out to colleagues asking for help purchasing these cards as a favor.

Reminder: All UNC business should be conducted only from official UNC mail addresses. Check who the sender is and if it is not from an @unco.edu address be wary of a scam.

The ask is urgent as the “colleague” is in a meeting and “forgot” to order the cards beforehand and are trying not to look bad in the meeting.

The scammer asks you to buy the cards, and then asks to send a picture of the gift card and activation code. They’ll reimburse you once they are done with the meeting in a couple of hours.

The scammer knows that nothing beats gift cards for speed!

The scammer then sells the cards to people on cryptocurrency platforms like Paxful. The gift card is converted to cryptocurrency and then to cash. From start to finish the scam takes just under 2 hours to complete and are not reversable.

Gift Card Scam… it’s easy to fall victim to it!

If you find that you have been scammed here is what you should do:

1st – Stop communicating with the person and contact the UNC Police Department at 970-351-2341.

2nd – Open a support ticket with the Technical Support Center!

Help us, help you!
Report all technical issues to the TSC.
Phone: 970-351-4357 or 800-545-2331
Online: help.unco.edu
Email: help@unco.edu

We can then check to see if the email has any links as assist blocking the site and help you junk the message!

3rd – Did you purchase anything with a personal card expecting a reimbursement?

Visit: The Colorado Attorney General’s Office’s - Stop Fraud Colorado site: https://www.stopfraudcolorado.gov/ then click on Report Fraud!

Visit: The Cybercrime Support Network site: https://FraudSupport.org this site was created by to provide assistance to both individual and small business cybercrime victims. FraudSupport.org will lead cybercrime victims through the Report, Recover and Reinforce process after an incident occurs.

Cybercrime and Online Fraud Can Happen to Anyone

With UNC’s access to LinkedIn Learning (https://linkedinlearning.unco.edu) check out the series on Cybersecurity Awareness. Login to your free training and search for “CyberSecurity Awareness” to learn new skills!

Visit www.unco.edu\cybersecurity for faculty, staff and student cybersecurity resources.