Ladies Beware!

In the current issue of American Association of Retired People (AARP The Magazine), 

investigative writer Doug Shadel explains the processes behind scammers and gift cards. 

Shadel interviewed a scammer named Yu Zhang who explained how gift cards are used

to scam people out of their money.  Here are the steps scammers use:

• Texts using social apps to entice people to pay their bills using gift cards.  
• “Launders” the money by obtaining smaller denominations of gift cards from places like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, Google Play, Nintendo, and other places.  
• He legally sells these lower denomination cards at a discount over the internet.  

Scamming with gift cards is a profitable business.  A scammer can wash gift cards and

earn 2% to 5% for his (or her) work.  On a typical day, a scammer can launder $10,000 to

$30,000 worth of cards.  For $10,000, the take can be $200 to $500 for about an hour’s 

worth of work.

Although Shadel’s article discusses scamming as applying to us all, it is important for women to be aware that Mr. Soul Mate you met online just may be taking you for your money in the same manner.

It is from the perspective of women and their money that I would like to address.  By nature, the vast majority of us women are wired to GIVE--time, money, and resources.  Believe it or not, there are men, especially on the internet, who are aware of our trait of giving to a fault.

Recently, I was informed of another method for scamming too-trusting females:  

• A woman meets Mr. Wonderful online.  
• Mr. W starts telling her that he is having a hard time financially.
• Often, the woman will initiate offering the money before he “asks.”  
• It begins with a small amount which increases over time.
• The woman stops or lowers her “donations” to his wallet.
• Mr. W becomes angry and breaks-off the relationship--saying you are treating him badly.  
• He moves on to another woman and starts the process again.  
• Often, Mr. Wonderful has several women to whom he extracts funds.

Here is what I would like to share with you.  Due to all these scamming and fraud tactics, when money is transferred through places like Western Union, the person receiving the funds on the other end has to show identification to get the money.  Scammers and Mr. Wonderfuls do not like this--especially if the funds are going to other countries.

Presently, government agencies are “watching” money transfer places like Western Union. When there are too many funds going to a particular country, the transfers are flagged, and agencies are notified to follow-up.

How do scammers like Mr. Right avoid being investigated?  They request money be sent on a card. There is no flagging for suspicious activities.  And, there is no need for confirmation and identification on the receiving end. Of course, the scammer will tell you he doesn’t have current ID, no car to driveto a money transfer office, and so on.

Ladies beware!  You are not a walking, talking ATM.  Ask yourself this: If Mr. Right provided for his own self before you showed-up, do you want to continue paying for his existence now that he has latched onto you?

Resources

Shadel, Doug.  (June 2019). An Insider’s Tale:  How Crooks Use Gift Cards. Retrieved from AARP The Magazine.