5 ms·

Gift card cannot be cashed out, right? I don't follow how this scam can be profitable. Are they reselling the gift card? I did not find mentioning that in the

Gift card cannot be cashed out, right? I don't follow how this scam can be profitable. Are they reselling the gift card? I did not find mentioning that in the article.

jonchang 5y ago
Quote: Why go after hotel or airline rewards? Because these accounts can all be cleaned out and deposited onto a gift card number that can be resold quickly online for 80 percent of its value. “These guys want that hard digital asset — the cash that is sitting there in your inbox,” Bill said. “You literally just pull cash out of peoples’ inboxes, and then you have all these secondary markets where you can sell this stuff.”
mjparrott 5y ago
Yes they resell the gift cards. If I quote the article: "... these accounts can all be cleaned out and deposited onto a gift card number that can be resold quickly online for 80 percent of its value" Additionally, a quick google search for "sell gift cards online" reveals many sites that offer the ability to sell your gift cards. One example: https://www.cardcash.com/sell-gift-cards/ https://www.cardcash.com/sell-gift-cards/
duskwuff 5y ago
Some gift cards can be cashed out conditionally. For example, California requires that gift cards under $10 be redeemable for cash. Outside of that, there's a huge grey market for "discounted" gift cards. That's probably where most of these are going.
FalconSensei 5y ago
they can sell a $50 gift card for $40 or something
- SilverRed 5y ago
  I have tried to do this legitimately for unwanted gifts and its a lot of work. Posting a gift card on the normal buy and sell sites attracts every scammer in the country who all pretend to have sent payments or send fake paypal emails to you and get angry when you don't hand over the code. And then even when they do pay you they could always tell paypal that the code didn't work.
  - astura 5y ago
    There's sites you can sell them to, rather than individuals. I've sold lots to a few different sites and I've never had any issues.
tacLog 5y ago
Reselling for 80% of value per article.
stef25 5y ago
Paxful.com

Gift card cannot be cashed out, right? I don't follow how this scam can be profitable. Are they reselling the gift card? I did not find mentioning that in the article.

jonchang 5y ago

Quote: Why go after hotel or airline rewards? Because these accounts can all be cleaned out and deposited onto a gift card number that can be resold quickly online for 80 percent of its value. “These guys want that hard digital asset — the cash that is sitting there in your inbox,” Bill said. “You literally just pull cash out of peoples’ inboxes, and then you have all these secondary markets where you can sell this stuff.”

mjparrott 5y ago

Yes they resell the gift cards. If I quote the article: "... these accounts can all be cleaned out and deposited onto a gift card number that can be resold quickly online for 80 percent of its value" Additionally, a quick google search for "sell gift cards online" reveals many sites that offer the ability to sell your gift cards. One example: https://www.cardcash.com/sell-gift-cards/ https://www.cardcash.com/sell-gift-cards/

duskwuff 5y ago

Some gift cards can be cashed out conditionally. For example, California requires that gift cards under $10 be redeemable for cash. Outside of that, there's a huge grey market for "discounted" gift cards. That's probably where most of these are going.

FalconSensei 5y ago

they can sell a $50 gift card for $40 or something

SilverRed 5y ago
I have tried to do this legitimately for unwanted gifts and its a lot of work. Posting a gift card on the normal buy and sell sites attracts every scammer in the country who all pretend to have sent payments or send fake paypal emails to you and get angry when you don't hand over the code. And then even when they do pay you they could always tell paypal that the code didn't work.
- astura 5y ago
  There's sites you can sell them to, rather than individuals. I've sold lots to a few different sites and I've never had any issues.

tacLog 5y ago

Reselling for 80% of value per article.

stef25 5y ago

Paxful.com