By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK — A 53-year-old Lincoln Park woman was scammed into purchasing gift cards and revealing the code numbers to a con artist who claimed an iPad was charged to her Amazon account, and who then pretended to be an official from her bank, telling her to purchase gift cards to resolve the dilemma.
She was instructed to purchase a Target gift card at a Walgreens, and two Best Buy gift cards and multiple Google Play cards at a CVS pharmacy. After the victim called her bank on her own, she discovered the earlier numbers had been disconnected, and that she had been defrauded.
Officials warn that gift cards are popular with scammers because they are like cash, and remind people never to use gift cards for payments, and those seeking payment that way are usually intent on fraud.