Uhhh OHH! Beware this holiday season!

Hmmm.... that may well be true, Top... Uhm... please take no offence over my next statement... Here, it is considered crude to actually give someone cash. Gift cards are the preferred medium of giving money for gifts. (I honestly can't remember the last time I was given cash as a gift.) I don't give Pretty cash or cards either one... I usually buy something small for a gift and then tell her how much I am willing to spend and let her get whatever she wants.... but our money is pooled, anyway. It wouldn't do me any good to give her cash. She'd most likely tell me to put it back into my checkbook until she needed it.

@DaddyEvil I do not see why virtual cash would be alright, and real cash considered crude. We have no problem with cash here, at least for children. I would not give cash to an adult, but even for a child I prefer to do a real gift, and I give cash when I have absolutely no idea of what would like to receive a child, or when I have not managed to find what he/her wants.

@topffer these way of giving is also very much acceptable in the Philippines and it's not considered crude, the only difference is it's alright to give cash even to an adult or elderly person. The basis for who is giving cash to whom is based on who is presumed to be well off and making more at the present moment, fortunes change and its not uncommon to see reciprocates as in teens and children that you gave gifts and money to when they were young would give you gifts and money when you are old if they are fortunate enough to land on a good high paying job or business.

vanny, whatever you do, do not get one of the prepaid cards from a store that has them where anyone but the clerk behind the counter can get them and give them to you after you have placed your money on them. The cards these scammers are stealing money from are prepaid cards that they can pick up in a store, step behind something and swipe the cards quickly, then leave those cards laying there for the clerk to come find them and put them back where a customer can pick them up and put money on them. The scammers don't scratch off the strip on the back of the cards. There is NO way to tell if a card has had its number on the magnetic strip copied onto a smart phone! Once that number is copied into a phone, the thief can check that number any time he wants and if he finds money there, he just strips it off the card using the number stored in his phone and the money is his! I know you and @TheHorse are technophobic, but you will have to learn some things to continue functioning in this computerized world. Some day very soon, there will only be technological ways to do things here. Money will no longer exist or will be worthless. Only cards with chips or the chips themselves will be used for everything! You both know I will help you with anything you need, but you have to tell me about things that scare you or that you don't understand for me to be able to help you!

Vanny Don't freak out. You will be fine, we don't earn more than $5 per month

@DaddyEvil ... here is some news which you should know...I managed to get 35000 so far out of banks since last month 8th...my househelp requisitioned 40000 loan for her husband's treatment...our monthly cash expenses are near about 20000 (balance by checks), and now I have been in queue for 3 days ...if you exclude the queues for depositing monies and queues for collecting monies inside the bank (I returned empty handed thrice in those queues because banks did not have monies). And each day its more than 3 hours standing..and now a tenant decides to leave and new tenant wants us to repair the house which will cost another 15000 at least, and the other house there was already some work in progress that would cost us 25000 or so. So in all, inflow of 35000+opening balance of 30000 as against that 40000+40000+50000 (november, december, and half jan to plan for). This demonetization is such a groan...hopefully it does us some good...seriously. There is bank balance but we cannot withdraw banks don't have monies to pay us...and there is restriction on how much we can withdraw in any month...laborers do not want old currency because they don't have bank accounts, my househelp can't read ..so she wouldn't know the difference between hundred and thousand...if you get what I mean..my legs are groaning my back is groaning, shoulder muscles are groaning...I think twice about buying things when I go shopping...everything is bought in small quantities just in case...kinda...so more shopping trips... @Daljinder..please read the above....tell me some trick to manage this...debit cards are not being accepted..anywhere except grocery stores...and I am forced to go very far for purchasing because they do not have the machines in regular store...I anyway have an account of 2000 bucks running with this guy...but I am not having enough monies for regular shopping. Dad is doing grocery shopping now...poor thing. Tomorrow I have to pay some monies for the work in progress and I am at my wits end how I am going to manage that...I gave maid 500 bucks today....I don't know how to use ATM and rtgs is not something you can use on others machines..even if dad accepts to do that. I stand in queue and call dad from home when there are about six folks in queue in front of me...so that he does not have to stand for long. I did not expect the problem to last this long...

You're very welcome. We have already had this happen at the Walmart where I work. I sold a lady some of the cards for iTunes. She paid $100 each for seven cards. She came back a short time later claiming that I hadn't put the money onto her cards. When we checked the cards, three of them still had cash on them but four didn't. She basically lost her money.

@DaddyEvil .....And you were able to prove to her that you did put the money on them? How horrible. I deal with the cards online only. Thank goodness. I will tell everyone I know about this.

@celticeagle Yes, management pulled the register receipt for her transaction, which clearly showed that the money was put onto the cards she still had in her possession. (I can not verify that iTunes made good on those four cards, in case more of this type thing happens. Legally, iTunes is not responsible for what happens to the cards after they are sold to a customer.... the customer can flush the cards down a toilet as far as iTunes is concerned.) I have been telling everyone to deal only with the online cards now. It is easy to send little Tommy an email with a virtual card he can pull up on his smart phone and use just like a real card at any register in almost all stores in the United States. (He simply presents the clerk with the scannable barcode on his phone, the clerk scans it at the register and little Tommy takes his gift home.)

You are very welcome, pgn! Right now, it is still safe enough to order them online and have them delivered to you as an eCard via your email. I do wonder how long it will be before Pretty and I have to stop putting online earnings onto eCards that we can open on our phone and the stores just scan the bar code on our screen to pay for things we buy? As quickly as people find a new way to do business, the frauds and cheats find a way to make it un-safe to do, as well. sigh!

@pgntwo I guess we aren't using those here yet, pgn. We've just started using the cards with the little chip in them that you put into the scanners. The problem with them is that my register is set to allow $50 to be spent or cash pulled from the card without pin number or signature. How is that making it safer?

@DaddyEvil It is the contactless bank or credit cards that worry me, proximity readers can pick them up in crowded places like a busy commuter train or a mall... And more banks are providing them as standard.

I suggest you read the article on this link, Judy, and don't purchase gift cards, unless you buy them online and give them as eCards. eCards can be sent to the designated recipient via their email address. When they open the email they can either print out a paper card to take to the store, or they can open the email via their phone or tablet. Then the retailer can simply scan the bar code related to that eCard to pay for the purchase.

@JudyEv You are always welcome, Judy. I am hoping my advice is heeded by all who read this discussion. I would feel very bad if someone from myLot lost money in this way after I posted this warning.

@DaddyEvil Thanks for the advice. That sounds much the best way to go.

I wish cards were not as popular here as they are, too. It would be much better if people started giving virtual eCards instead of real cards here, Reine! At least your people won't have a little Tommy or little Susie who loses their Christmas gift to gift card fraud!

And so I thought too, bb.

@DaddyEvil now i can say, we are quite lucky then :))

HOLY S@#$% @DaddyEvil damn big bidness is encouraging thievery .... why am I not surprised , anything to make a buck and we don't even get a doe

@rebelann IKR? And I really like venison, too! LOL! Some of my brothers hunt every year and pass a little of the venison/bear/elk to Pretty and I... We aren't fond of elk, but venison and bear taste just fine! (grinning at you!)

That is part of the thing here, Ann! NO, the scratch off strip does not have to be removed to steal the money from a gift card. All the information is now encoded onto that magnetic strip on the back of each card. Run the card through a strip reader (You can buy a strip reader one inch wide by one inch tall and as thin as a credit card. It attaches to your smart phone and you can read any magnetic strip as fast as you can swing your phone past the card.) and those numbers are yours. You won't know when someone puts money on the cards, but all you have to do is call the phone number associated with that card, give the automated pc on the phone the strip number and it tells you how much money that card has on it. The thief then tells the card to dump the money into an account online, such as Walmart or into a PayPal account and voila! the money is his! I just found out that there are strips you can purchase from Amazon.com that you can put over a scratched off strip on the back of a card that looks exactly like the original scratch off strip. There is no way to tell that card has ever been tampered with, either!

Since they went to using the magnetic strip, they were supposed to be safe to leave out. Now, with the miniaturization of magnetic strip readers and the ease of getting one, that is no longer the case, Anna. IDK what Walmart is going to do now. All types of gift cards are very popular here!

You could still give eCards, Wendy! Purchase the eCard at the online retailer, give the email address of the recipient and the online store will send the eCard to that person. They can print the eCard on paper and use it or they can simply open the email on their smart phone and show the barcode to the register clerk to use the card! Their money is totally safe and secure that way. How have you been lately? It seems like you've been gone for several weeks, right? (I went looking for you a few days ago. I saw you hadn't been here in a while and wondered what you found so fascinating out in the big wide world. I missed you! )

@Drosophila I've not been doing too badly.... I had shingles again while you were gone. That makes four times. Both my doctor and the pharmacist I use confirmed it was shingles. Both said a person isn't supposed to be able to have them a third time, let alone a fourth. LOL! (I'm unique! grinning at you!) I also sprained my ankle day before yesterday... I'm enjoying the heck out of that!

@DaddyEvil I have been on a long work trip and then Internet problems! So ya took a while for me to get on her. How have you been?

I had no clue about gift card fraud either until I sold seven $100 cards to one lady not long ago. When she started to give them out, four had already lost their entire balance. Three still had their balance available when she returned to complain about the cards I sold her.

@Jessicalynnt And her experience is the reason I wrote this post, hon! If it can happen in the middle of boresville, it has to be happening across the entire U.S.! SMH!

@DaddyEvil well now you know. but wow. just wow.

Yes, and it is scary how stores just leave their cards sitting out instead of locking them up to keep the numbers safe!

@PainsOnSlate WOW! Yeah, I would agree... She could have said it a lot nicer than that! *shudder!* (I have a name I call girls like that, pains... my mama would say "witch" but I don't quite say it that way.)

@DaddyEvil My youngest son got a card for Christmas from his girlfriend who was breaking up with him and she just took it off the store display and never added money to it... The message was loud....

You're welcome, KnehKnah! Your country is behind the rest of the world technologically, but you are beginning to use these type of cards, too. The cards have started being used in major grocery chains and some retail stores in the largest cities. So they are coming, it is just taking them time to launch everywhere there. When they do reach your area, remember, DON'T buy cards left out where anyone else can reach them! ONLY purchase cards that are kept secured behind the counter where the register clerk must get them and give them to you after putting your money on them! That is the best way I know to stop potential fraud with these prepaid cards! I hope you never find out about these things first hand, my dear KnehKnah!

@KnehKnah How are you doing now, my dear KnehKnah? (I was and am very worried about your health. Please take care and do get a second opinion from another qualified doctor.) P.S. Please stop calling me DaddyAngel! I LIKE my reputation of being evil! (grinning and teasing you!)

@DaddyEvil I am so thankful I read this post of yours & been oriented by you, as well. You are really a DaddyAngel!

@Plethos I am only as evil as I need to be to open the eyes of those who blind themselves to the truth. (I honestly wish I could have agreed with you on this one, Plethos... I kinda think it is nice that I really do have one friend who is still innocent of true evil.)

Okay.... I hope you realize Starbucks leaves their cards out and accessible to the public, just like Walmart and most other stores do... That means the same tactics that work at Walmart will work just as well in the other stores, too. Good luck with that!

@DaddyEvil - stop making me paranoid ! damn youre an evil genius!

Hmmm... sure, for you, I would do this, my King! You might want to go read the comment I just left for Jeff in his box on this thread! I'd rather not think of you having to do that, either, my friend!

@DaddyEvil DE thank you, I read it :) I have question how those gift cards bring business to them ? Cost of Gift card is same as amount mentioned on it ?

Real gifts are the perfect solution to scams like this. Unfortunately, not everyone takes the time to find the real gifts the person they are buying for wants. Gift cards WERE the perfect solution to this problem... but not anymore! The only real solution now is to keep those cards secured behind the counter without allowing general access to them. If clerks or others find loose cards laying around, they must be thrown away instead of putting them back into the general supply for the store. I am hoping I can keep someone from finding out about this new scam the hard way! My discussion has already helped one person who might have lost money to this scam!

@DaddyEvil I hope you have a great Christmas holiday season too

@louievill

Honestly, this is not one of the worst, although, I will agree this is a good way to ruin Christmas for many! (If you read the article that I linked to in my discussion, you will find out what is worse than gift card fraud.) I hope you and your family have a great holiday season.

You are very welcome, HappyLady! I do understand.... sometimes events pile up and can knock us down if we don't find some way to relieve the burden of our everyday lives. Gift cards can go a long way towards relieving some of the stress that builds up!

If we send them to Mars and they manage to make a go of living there, then we've just wasted a planet on them. Send them to the sun and let them try to colonize it! We won't have to deal with them anymore that way! Thanks for passing this warning along, Dearheart! The more people we warn the fewer people who will get ripped off this year!

You and me, both, Valerie! Be careful if you buy any gift cards from now on!

@DaddyEvil I will be. Thank you.

LOL! I guess Christmas IS a pagan holiday, but it has been becoming more of a tradition than a pagan holiday for decades now.... (I would like to know what country you are from, please? I would appreciate a pm from you if you don't want others to know that information. Thank you.) You realize that gift cards are given for all occasions, not just Christmas, right? This scam happens all year round.

@DaddyEvil yes a I know about gift card.