Automated bots that can steal Google Play codes Try Aura’s online and device security features today. ✅ Take action: Every Aura plan comes with intelligent safety tools - VPN, antivirus, password manager, and more - to protect your digital privacy and data. Scammers can record dialpad tones to decipher card numbers. Upon calling a number purporting to be Google Play, the seller is asked to type in the card’s PIN code. Someone offers to buy a gift card from a seller and asks the seller to verify the card by calling the issuing agency and confirming the PIN number while the buyer stays on the line. 💡 Related: What To Do If You Receive a Social Security Scam Call → Three-way-call scams As soon as they get the Google Play gift card redemption codes, the imposters disappear without a trace. They often invent excuses to explain why regular card payments won’t do. Once someone demonstrates a willingness to contribute, scammers request payment using Google Play gift cards.

They reach out to members of the community and pretend the organization urgently needs money. These imposters often claim to be associated with local nonprofits or religious organizations. Source: Kasada ‍ Affinity fraud that impersonates trusted figuresĪ typical Google Play card scam may involve an imposter pretending to be a trusted community leader. Gift cards will comprise 40% of total gift purchases during the holiday season, making them easy targets for scammers. Scammers collect victims’ Google Play gift card numbers and cash out the accounts before disappearing with their spoils. However, there are also ways to convert Google Play balances into cash. Google Play gift cards allow cardholders to buy content in the Google Play store. Common Google Play gift card scams employ a wide range of techniques - from phishing emails to elaborate social engineering schemes. Scammers can be notoriously crafty in coming up with ways to convince victims to share the redemption codes found on the backs of these cards.īut this isn’t the only way scammers use Google Play gift cards to defraud victims. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), gift cards are the number one payment method of choice for scam artists. Store-specific gift cards like these are easy to share, hard to secure, and available anywhere. The hackers would only relinquish control once they received four $400 Google Play gift cards. Hackers had hijacked her husband’s computer and blocked all access to it. Chicago residents Gail Roberts and her husband never thought they’d be a part of this statistic, too. adults have been the targets of a gift card scam.

Google play gift card