Another type of scam is impacting people in our area, and it's centered around gift cards, but it's not quite what you'd expect.
"It's really just a shame that the consumers are the ones who are being scammed," said Tiffani Allison, a south Reno mother who was a recent victim of a gift card scam.
Scams are getting more and more creative. Allison received a $100 Mastercard gift card from her parents for Christmas.
She went to use it at a store, and it wouldn't work. The cover ended up being a disguise.
"Took a look at the card and it said Taco Cabana, which was shocking because it was supposed to be a Mastercard gift card and I'd never heard of Taco Cabana," Allison said. "I looked it up. No Taco Cabanas in Reno. Look closer at the card someone had photocopied the back of a Mastercard, glued it on, and my parents are out $106."
Photo of the Mastercard gift card scam including a fraudulent Taco Cabana gift card.Â
Allison said trying to get her money back was a struggle.
"My mom bought it at a local Target," she said. "[She] called Target. They said, 'Not our problem, call Mastercard.' Mastercard said 'not our problem, work with Target.' My mom went down in person, and the first words out of their mouth were, 'hey, we got another one of these fraudulent taco gift cards.'"
Allison said Target finally paid her parents back after she told them she spoke with us here at 2 News Nevada.
The Reno Police Department says there haven't been any formal reports to them about a scam like this.
Officers are asking that people who are victims of these crimes let them know immediately.
"The more that we get these crimes reported, the more that we can work with these various businesses to hopefully combat, or deter these crimes that are occurring at these different businesses," said Hunter Mercurio, Public Information Officer, RPD.
While not everything is preventable, there are some tips so you don't fall victim.
"Has it [the gift card] been tampered with?" said Timothy Johnston, Better Business Bureau. "Inspect it carefully and then, even though you might see a barcode, and it looks good, rub your finger over it to see if there is a label that's been placed over that."
However, Allison says that the gift card looked pretty normal.
"This is what's so shocking about it," she said. "We received a couple of these Mastercard gift cards. They all looked the same. No visible tampering to the outside. I think you could tell. Which leads one to wonder, how did this happen? Did this happen somewhere along the supply chain? An inside job?"
We reached out to Target for further comment, and we have not heard back.
Johnston says people can also gift straight cash or digital gift cards to try to avoid scams as well.
