If you like to buy discounted gift cards off sites like Kijiji and Craigslist, watch out for con artists baiting you with a good deal.
Rick Creswicke found an ad offering a $1,500 Home Depot gift card on Kijiji for $1,100.
He met the seller at a Home Depot location where staff verified the card really had $1,500 on it.
Creswicke bought the card and used it to buy $200 worth of merchandise.
One week later, he returned to the Home Depot where he was informed the remaining balance on the gift card was gone.
It turns out the gift card was purchased with a fraudulent credit card. Once the bank informed Home Depot, the retailer cancelled the gift card, shifting its loss to Rick.
“We thought we did everything right,” says Crewsicke. “I'm pretty suspicious by nature but when I went through all this, it seemed valid and good. We thought we were doing everything right and we were still victimized and that’s pretty insulting."
Calgary police say several people have been recently victimized by this scam and they warn there's no sure fire way to protect yourself against it.
