By ZEINAB NAJM
Sunday Times Newspapers
TRENTON — A woman lost approximately $7,000 in a gift card scam earlier this month.
She received an email June 8, claiming to be from Norton-Lifelock, stating that her subscription for personal home protection was going to expire and that the subscription will be auto renewed for a total of $339.
The email contained a customer care phone number. The woman called and was instructed to pay using a Target gift card and gave the man on the phone the information on the gift card. The man said the number was not working and instructed the woman to buy another gift card.
According to the report, the same requests continued until the woman purchased approximately $7,000 in Target, CVS Pharmacy and Apple gift cards.
The phone number that contacted the woman requesting the gift card came back to be out of Gardendale, Ala. Calls to the number went unanswered.
Police were told that the man on the phone had a foreign accent, but didn’t give his name. Since the scam, the woman moved in with her son-in-law and his wife.
Copies of the emails were provided to police.