Gift Card Scams – BEC, Bribes, and Bonuses

The use of gift cards as a method of payment for imposter scams, like Business Email Compromise (BEC) is not new. According to the FBI and FTC, gift card fraud has experienced an increasing trend since 2017, including an increase in the number of businesses that have become victim to this method. This week, cybersecurity awareness firm, KnowBe4 detected a new variant of this scam. The recent example indicates fraudsters are not only getting very greedy, with requests of $4000, but incentivizing their requests by telling employees to “keep one for yourself” under the guise of a bonus. While gift card scams are not replacing the more familiar ACH/wire transfer account information bait-and-switch, they do offer a less traceable method for the transfer of funds, if successful. Members are encouraged to educate all users on the many BEC schemes, including the multiple ways fraudsters are specifically using gift cards. KnowBe4 also included a notice (below) that everyone is welcome to copy/paste/edit and send to their employees. KnowBe4

The bad guys are getting creative with hybrid giftcard  / CEO Fraud scams, They have mutated into campaigns where they are impersonating an executive and urgently ask for gift cards to be bought for customers, and allowing the employee to take one themselves too. The numbers need to be emailed or texted to “the boss”, after they are physically bought at stores. Never comply with request like that and always confirm using a live phone call to make sure this is not a scam. Sometimes it’s OK to say “no” to the CEO!