Schuylkill County Resident Robbed of $3,000 by Gift Card Scam

A Schuylkill County woman is out $3,000 after apparently falling victim to a gift card scam.

State Police-Schuylkill Haven say they received a call from a 72-year-old woman from Hubley Township a week ago saying she’d been taken for $3,000.

Police say an unidentified person placed a cold call to the the woman and convinced her to buy $3,000 in gift cards to either pay a bill or settle a debt.

In a gift card scam, a fraudster convinces a mark to purchase gift cards to pay off a bill. They often use high-pressure techniques to get the victim to make these purchases.

Then, the scammer tells the victim to relay the pertinent information about the gift card – like the bar code, the CVV or PIN numbers, or the activation code – and then drain it of its funds.

Police remind people to never agree to pay a debt or bill using a gift card.

In the last few years, numerous people in Schuylkill County – people of all ages – have fallen victim this and similar scams.

Almost every time, people who fall victim to a gift card scam have no means of recovering the money they’ve lost.