Scam alert: Husband was asked by his "CEO" to buy iTunes gift cards for his clients

LKathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 16:52
Last edited 28/04/2020 - 16:54

Hi Ozbargain brain trust,

I have couple of questions regarding iTunes gift cards:

1) Can you get a refund from Coles and JB hifi if the cards are unscratched and still attached to the backing card?

2) If not, what's the best way to use 10x $100 gift cards? 😂 We have Android phones (my husband has a Macbook though). We could give them as gifts - but do people even want them? We could try to sell them below cost price - but do people buy them? I'm not sure if we personally have ever bought anything from the iTunes store!

Back story:
My husband gets an email at 6am to his work email address from his CEO saying that he shouldn't have too much on the table and can he send him his mobile number. Semi lucidly, T hubby responds, and gets requested by text a few hours later to go buy some iTunes gift cards for the CEO's clients that he is currently in a conference call with. Says that he needs them ASAP and can he get them from the nearest shop. My hubby is the type to panic a little when asked to do a task urgently (especially by the big boss, who hubby knows has gotten more newer members of staff to do tasks for him) and we rush off to Coles to buy the gift cards. Coles says we can only buy 5, so to save time I go and buy the remaining 5 cards from JB hifi.

Hubby sent photos of the barcodes by text and email to his "CEO" and then when told to "peel off the back" he cottoned on to this being a ridiculous task and that he was getting scammed. Hubby called the number (no answer of course) and when we went back to the email I clicked on his CEO's name and an email address came up that was definitely not his CEO's! Luckily we hadn't scratched off the grey stickers and didn't respond further to the scammer.

We called Apple support who advised us to return to point of sale (which we are about to do) since the card are unused - can we get refunds, or will we be disappointed and have $1000 worth of gift cards to figure out what to do with?

(Don't worry, I think I was a pretty supportive wife and hubby has now learnt an important life lesson).

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Entertainment

Comments

  • Bargain80 on 28/04/2020 - 16:57
    +230

    sorry for blunt question, how stupid is your hubby?

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:00
      +199

      He does tend to be a bit on the ignorant side, but I think I mentioned a couple of points that made the story seem a bit more feasible for him to get sucked in initially. So I'd say he's probably not as stupid as you're implying and I'd appreciate if you'd only comment with helpful advice.

      Edit: I showed this to my husband and he said I was being too kind and that he is pretty stupid.

      • fruit on 28/04/2020 - 18:06
        +10

        but I think I mentioned a couple of points that made the story seem a bit more feasible for him to get sucked in initially.

        Could you explain more, people make mistakes all the time I'm not here to blame rather I'd like to help people who get scammed and prevent others from being scammed.

        • ssquid on 28/04/2020 - 18:17
          +11

          The very first step should have rung alarm bells: why would the boss ask via email for a phone number, just to continue a conversation that could have been done via email. Makes no sense.
          It's like the facebook/gumtree scams where the buyer says they don't have time to go to a bank so they'll just pay via paypal and send a relative to collect the item; why not send the relative to the bank to get cash?

          • TilacVIP on 29/04/2020 - 08:43

            @ssquid: You mean paying by PayPal, getting someone else to pick it up and them claiming they didn't get what they paid for? Not sure how this scam is supposed to work, other than this way, and even then the buyer may not be successful if it was a pick, but I guess its always better to get paid via bank transfer

            • ssquid on 29/04/2020 - 18:40
              +1

              @TilacVIP: They use a stolen PayPal account to pay. The transactions get reversed, even if you've moved the funds from paypal to your bank and withdrawn it as cash it will get debited from your account (overdrawing if necessary).

          • sayako on 29/04/2020 - 19:37

            @ssquid: this! best if cash out done at that instance from ATM/Post Office as well.

          • winfan on 29/04/2020 - 22:33
            +1

            @ssquid: It is hard to ring bell sometimes, when you run for corporation as you are in touch with emails mostly. The very similar email , I received under my company director's name and as OP's Hubby did, I unknowingly share my mobile on reply. I got similar request of gift cards for client (We do lots of exports to Asia & buying "gifts" is common).

            However, the word "Gift Card" made me aleart , upon investigation, somehow they able to use director's naem(with outlook email) & it looked legit unless you read email address.

            Another intresting part was, It was direct address to my name in body as "Hi H********". As if someone has company's database with Employees name in it.

        • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 18:19
          +11

          It was bad timing - he was semi awake when he read the initial email so only saw the sender's name (his CEO's) and not the email address (not his CEO's), and thought that sure enough his boss gets more junior members of staff to do tasks for him sometimes.

          They said they were in a conference call - hence the text rather than the direct call - which is valid because a lot of the company is working from home.

          Also, by virtue of hubby's personality he gets tunnel visioned and also often completes tasks with hyper-efficiency (with compromised results). So if his BOSS tells him he needs something NOW then he'd do it. We're working on it in other aspects of his life too :)

          • trustnoone on 29/04/2020 - 02:13
            +3

            @Kathrifty:

            so only saw the sender's name (his CEO's) and not the email address

            This is interesting, does that mean that your hubby was targetted, as someone would have to know the CEOs name. It just sounds like not just the typical scam, I get emails all the time asking for bitcoin/itunes/sony cards or whatever. But they usually fake being IRS, or some government agency.

            Going as far as to research the company CEO name makes me wonder if other staff is being targetted also.

            • The mikky on 29/04/2020 - 07:05
              +9

              @trustnoone: Yeah this actually happens all the time. Pretty common for a business to list staff names and positions on their website.

              • Kangal on 29/04/2020 - 10:38
                +12

                @The mikky: The CEO's name is John Citizen. A great friend of mine.

              • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 10:51
                +2

                @The mikky: Yes, the CEO's name is listed on the website. But in my brief search of the rest of the site, there's no list of other staff names apart from the board of directors.

                Curious as to how the scammers know that my husband works there then. And to my knowledge he's never used his work email address to sign up for anything.

                • greennick on 29/04/2020 - 11:26
                  +10

                  @Kathrifty: LinkedIn usually

                  • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 11:58

                    @greennick: These scammers are tricky cos he's not even on linkedin - my google search of his name with "Perth" tacked on the end brings a few other guys up though!

                • The mikky on 29/04/2020 - 14:16
                  +1

                  @Kathrifty: Does your husband have Facebook, has he ever posted about work on there or any other social media ?

                • timdotexe on 30/04/2020 - 11:53
                  +1

                  @Kathrifty: LinkedIn.

              • macrocephalic on 29/04/2020 - 15:06

                @The mikky: We get calls in our office multiple times a weeks from people asking to speak to X, or to confirm that X still works there, or to confirm X's contact details. Often the person they're asking for hasn't worked for the company for many years. Often they ask if X still works for <insert the name of the company before it was bought out 9 years ago>. I normally just give them an elusive answer about how I don't know, or they must have called the wrong number.

                Our IT manager fields a lot of the calls from the sales people trying to sell services. He recounted how one of them had promised that they could supply all our phone connectivity for $100 per month - to which he asked them if that included the 5 ISDN onramps?

                • The mikky on 29/04/2020 - 16:18
                  +1

                  @macrocephalic: Yeah very true, I guess the thing is, there are so many different attack vectors they can use these days.

      • gromit on 29/04/2020 - 13:56

        sorry but nothing in this whole transaction should have been believable and no none of the points you mentioned makes it more believable. This scam is so common coles and woolies even limit the sale of the cards to try and help mitigate it and post signs warning about it. regardless you might be ok to return if you explain what happened to them and if not can always resell at a slight loss.

        • BinaryPirate on 29/04/2020 - 20:46
          +4

          Last year I could've scored at least three tries and won the NRL grand final for Canberra because I didn't miss all really obvious gaps in the opposition's defensive line, unlike the players. I even finished more MotoGP races than Rossi in 2019 because each race I could see where the track was obviously lacking in grip & would've eased off a fraction.

          Many things seem obvious when you're not the person the thing is happening to.

      • [Deactivated] on 29/04/2020 - 20:06
        -7

        Oh no, he’s definitely as stupid as the post above is implying.

        • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 20:13
          +8

          Not as funny the second time round.

      • Intoxicoligist on 01/05/2020 - 08:21
        +2

        Tell him not to stress. I work in IT and see this kind of thing regularly, it's very easy to get people to do what you want if you do your homework on the company well. Given the way it happened and the things you mentioned about the CEO having asked people to do tasks before, combined with the early timing of the email mean that it's pretty easy to catch someone off guard.

        Talk to the IT team and let them know, they will help out. Honestly the CEO shouldn't be using staff to run errands, and if he does they need to be verified by the person recieving them (by a different method of contact!).

        Good luck with the refunds! You might be able to talk to the companies over social media to see if they can help.

        • Kathrifty on 01/05/2020 - 10:19
          +1

          Good idea contacting them via social media! I might try it with JB hi Fi, even just to ask them if they educate their staff on the more elaborate scams (like buying gift cards as gifts, rather than buying them to pay off your own "debt"). I don't blame the staff member at JB Hi fi at all - she did talk about scams, just not this one, and my brain didn't connect the dots.

          Thanks for your support :) He informed his IT department on the day.

          We are still in communication with Coles Customer Care, so I'll see where that gets us first.

      • Zonty on 01/05/2020 - 22:43
        +1

        Do you got teenagers relatives? If yes simply give them as birthday gift or Christmas gift. It will make them happy and you can rid off card too.

    • fruit on 28/04/2020 - 18:08
      +27

      Don't be an ass, humans are fallible. Have you never been fooled? Maybe you still don't know.
      Hate the scammer.

    • MagicMushroom on 28/04/2020 - 18:44
      +12

      You don't need to be stupid to fall for a silly scam. You might be next.

    • superdarkhumour on 29/04/2020 - 09:33
      -5

      That's how the gig economy works, look how many Yoga teachers, gym trainers, healers, nutritionists, you get the gist, there are now, all telling you different things and all telling you they know better than everyone else and all telling you what you need to do in your life. Creating confusion by telling you different things makes people think they need those people to get the "right" advice. Only stupid people will fall and pay for this.

      And now with the virus, they all realise scam life is not a real life.

    • dharmesht on 29/04/2020 - 12:35
      +1

      Me and my colleague got similar email for Coles Gift card. The email looks so legit, that when you realise it's scam, you wonder how many would fall for it.

    • voteyes on 29/04/2020 - 18:41

      Looks up at the sky when its raining and drowns.

      • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 19:07
        +1

        Looked up at the sun and got blinded - it facilitates the drowning later.

    • JonSteele on 29/04/2020 - 21:26
      +1

      Coles has what message on their radio?

    • 811b11e8 on 01/05/2020 - 16:09

      How silly is the Wife she went to JB hifi as Woolworths would only sell hubby 5 cards? LMAO

      Don't worry OP you and the hubby are not the only ones to fall for it.

      Many people have been duped by these emails for iTunes cards.

      My local Woolworths even has sign's up on the walls not to buy iTunes card for the ATO or others. They won't allow them to be sold at most counters either only the service desk as so many people have fallen for these scams that they now have to ask questions to would be buyers.

      Just take them back Woolworths and JB HIFI will have processes to deal with this its a common problem.

      • mapax on 01/05/2020 - 17:35
        +1

        How silly is the Wife she went to JB hifi as Woolworths would only sell hubby 5 cards? LMAO

        Lol, OP and husband started at Coles…

  • kahn on 28/04/2020 - 16:57
    +85

    This post seems like a scam to get me to buy popcorn.

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:03
      +2

      Sorry, I don't have any popcorn to sell! I do tend to write everything that way though. To me, it's easier to give more information than have people ask for clarifications.

      • capslock janitor on 29/04/2020 - 11:07
        +30

        HI
        it me,
        your husband
        dm me the cards peeled

        • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 20:26
          +3

          Chuck a "honey" in there and then it'll be believable.

      • Zonty on 01/05/2020 - 22:47

        I got similar scam with PayPal by saying you got refund from eBay and well lucky I did not shop that week otherwise you will rush in to and try log in through their link which look exactly same just browser was not green secure. I fiigure out before take my PayPal details so they can shop by using that login details.

    • djkelly69 on 28/04/2020 - 21:26
      +11

      Save the popcorn for Part 2, where they are scammed selling itunes giftcards on scumtree…

      • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 22:23
        +5

        Indeed, I'll report back.

  • nxllson on 28/04/2020 - 17:02
    +6

    How could you possibly have (almost) fallen for it if the email specifically requested for gift cards, even from the CEO? Check the email, verify the name & address to ensure that it really is from the CEO. Any scammer could obtain your CEO's name and your details quite easily.

    JB Hi-Fi won't give you the money back for the gift cards, probably the same scenario for Coles. Best bet is to sell them on OzBargain Classified / Gumtree for 10%-20% off face value. Accept the loss, it's much better than losing the whole $1000 sum.

    • kerfuffle on 28/04/2020 - 17:26
      +5

      I remember seeing a hangtag in the gift cards section saying watch out for scam e-mails from your boss …

      • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:49

        Gosh, I wish we'd seen one but we picked up those gift cards so quick we didn't look at anything else!

      • knk on 29/04/2020 - 20:38

        I remember coles doing a voiceover saying don't buy giftcards as payment for goods, services or debts.

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:47
      +2

      Husband admits that he should have done all those things. Not the type of scam he's used to seeing!

      Yes, thought as much about selling them for 20% less being a good way to go.

      • pluelp on 30/04/2020 - 13:50
        +2

        So sorry to hear that, truly sucks. My mum has fallen to a scam pretty bad one too so luckily he hasn’t sent it off yet phew. If you fail to return them I am happy to buy some off you, just msg me :)

        • Kathrifty on 30/04/2020 - 20:02

          I hope your mum hasn't been too affected by her scam :(

          Thanks, I will keep you in mind when we know how many cards we've got to sell!

          • pluelp on 30/04/2020 - 21:25

            @Kathrifty: It was pretty bad but lesson learnt, no way to recover it what can you do hey. Yea No worries :)

      • Zonty on 01/05/2020 - 22:51

        If you sell 2nd lesson do not sell on eBay or via PayPal because they will scam you again lol. They can pay cash and buy but I doubt because itune card always 15% off always at different retail shop so you will not able convert back money.

    • Intoxicoligist on 01/05/2020 - 08:23
      +1

      A well crafted email attack looks exactly like it's come from your bosses address (some don't even have the common off by one addresses). You can only see the red flags if you inspect the email source (x-sender and reply-to are the common ones that are dodgy). I've dealt with companies that have lost thousands because of these emails.

  • John on 28/04/2020 - 17:03
    +2

    I don't think you can get it refunded. You could probably sell at 20% discount in marketplace, but be careful you may get exposed to more scammer there.

    I usually use them to rent movies on iTunes. Some people who signed up with any kind of Apple subscriptions would benefit from it too. Or people who buy Apple softwares such as Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro etc

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 18:33
      +2

      Thanks for your advice.

      We couldn't get in store refunds, but we will see what the customer care people say!

      It's not looking good for refunds so yes, will look at reselling them at 80%, but good idea for renting movies.

      • Pricebeat on 01/05/2020 - 15:22

        If you use netflix, you can start your membership from an iOS device and use the gift cards to pay for it, same goes for any music streaming apps etc.

  • tsunamisurfer on 28/04/2020 - 17:05
    +3

    Dear OP,

    I sincerely hope your husband hasn't managed to sire any offspring.

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:07
      +8

      Not yet! Hopefully by that time I will trust him with my offspring haha

      • tsunamisurfer on 28/04/2020 - 17:10
        +19

        By that time????

        Run.

        Now.

        His line must not continue.

        • gyrex on 29/04/2020 - 12:17
          +1

          This fork of the thread is gold. There's clearly a large disparity between the wife's intellect and that of her husband :) The husband could be the nicest, most honest bloke in the world but I often wonder how that disparity plays out in a relationship over the long run. It would do my head in!

          • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 12:53
            +20

            @gyrex: Maybe one day I will come back to this thread and you can tell me "I told you so".

            For now I'm extremely content with my nice and honest husband, unsavvy though he is, and after reading some of the comments here (not yours) I'm also extremely happy he's not an internet (or real life) smart arse. I married him because of, and inspite of, his silliness :) We are both aware of the disparity - it's about us still figuring out how much I let him do himself ;) (OK, I've made him out to sound really dumb, but he's not, he's just down on the life-smarts)

            • gyrex on 29/04/2020 - 13:09
              +14

              @Kathrifty: Your response has me in stitches! Based on this fiasco, be sure to keep a tight leash on for the foreseeable future ;)

              Thanks for the laughs and you sound like a wonderful wife - all the best to both of you in the future and I hope this close call has instilled some need for him to think more rationally in the future :)

              • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 13:32
                +14

                @gyrex: Thanks for your perspective :)

                We are better for having each other, despite what our pockets currently say!

                It's constant learning curve, and life regularly finds ways to teach us new lessons, big and small.

                It's like what they say when teaching children right (though we are current free of those) if you don't let them do things for themselves then they'll never learn. Hence why we are still figuring it out! I was spoilt by a great cook for a mother so barely cook for myself, but my husband in contrast is the confident and efficient cook in our house… So I am also aware of the dangers in being spoon fed!

      • voteyes on 29/04/2020 - 18:43
        -1

        Wrong hole darling! Try again….

        • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 19:07
          +5

          Ohh, so that's why we don't have children yet!

  • kusama on 28/04/2020 - 17:12
    +5

    I would have thought Coles would have warned you. They have announcements over there radio.

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:21
      +2

      In hindsight, we are pretty ignorant about the "boss" scam. We definitely know not to pay for outstanding accounts by clicking random links. Coles just wouldn't sell us 10 gift cards, only 5, but did not warn us about scams.

      Edit: also wasn't in Coles long enough to hear anything on the radio!

      • kusama on 28/04/2020 - 17:54
        +3

        I haven’t heard of the boss one, it’s normally ATO I think. Maybe husband can forward it to the I.T security department to alert them.
        Ours is good, they run fake scams to test everyone’s knowledge of some scams.

        Edit: And I really want to edit my ‘there’ to ‘their’ but it’s too late.

        • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 18:06
          +4

          Yes, he's alerted his IT department already 👍

          Running fake scams sounds like a good idea!

          I noticed the "there" 😂

        • mooney on 29/04/2020 - 09:04
          +2

          Girl at my work bought $5k worth of Aldi gift cards due to "ATO"

          Lost the lot.

          She is naive but Aldi are criminal- letting someone buy $5k worth of vouchers, zero questions. Hopefully that's changed now.

          • gyrex on 29/04/2020 - 12:25
            +1

            @mooney: That is an asinine take on the situation. Aldi and their employees, nor any other retailer, does not exist to constantly warn people of scams - ultimately that onus rests on the individual and if they lack the wherewithal, intellect and requisite logic to determine a scam, then that's on them, not Aldi. We're supposed to be adults who have the capacity to think rationally and logically. We don't live in Idiocracy yet… Yet…

            This is a wider issue with society today where it's easier and more convenient to blame someone or something else for their own actions and/or stupidity, rather than taking ownership of their mistake and accepting personal responsibility.

            • mooney on 29/04/2020 - 13:59
              +9

              @gyrex: @gyrex the reason scams exist is because the play percentages until they reach somebody vulnerable to fall for them.. in this case was a young girl, recently moved from parental home, and was easily intimidated (over the phone)

              In other cases it could be someone who has learning difficulties, could be someone old and infirm.

              YOU might not fall for it, is not the same as NO ONE should fall for it. So stop being an uncaring arse.

              In my example Aldi should be aware enough that $5k on store vouchers isn't credible, they should have simple safeguards in place.. and you know what, they do now.

          • Ughhh on 29/04/2020 - 12:39
            +2

            @mooney: The scammers often tell the victim to tell the cashier its a wedding/bday present for their grandson/mother etc, and threaten them if they tell the store.
            Stores duty of care only goes so far.

            You would think paying ATO debt with gift cards is as ridiculous as it could get and defies all levels of common sense, makes absolutely no sense.

            • mooney on 29/04/2020 - 14:46
              +2

              @Ughhh: Agree stores duty of care only goes so far… if someone is primed to give a lie/ reasonable reason then they should proceed, but I would hope they ask the question.

              And yes, I agree 1000% its ridiculous that there is anyone out there attempting to pay a tax debt with Google Play or Itunes cards. But the joy of the internet is you can go wide as you like to find the one idiot in the haystack… ask my Nigerian Prince mate.

    • John on 29/04/2020 - 10:13
      +3

      I'm sure there's also warning sticker where the gift cards being sold about SCAM using iTunes gift card. A good staff should also be alerted of the red flags when someone wants to buy 5, especially more. There's no harm asking "have you checked that this is not a SCAM?"

      • Kathrifty on 30/04/2020 - 15:06
        +1

        Yeah we were just told it was against the Coles policy to sell more than 5. And unfortunately hubby was looking agitated, so probably the lady at checkout got too intimidated to say anything else. And I just interrupted after they each repeated themselves a couple of times and said "It's fine, we'll just take 5".

        Perhaps we really did need it spelled out to us with literally "Have you checked this is not a scam?" 🤷‍♀️

        • John on 30/04/2020 - 22:53
          +2

          At least you haven't lost it completely. I was scammed $650 before in probably worst way than you. It's amazing how stupid our brain can be at times.

    • xuqi on 29/04/2020 - 19:15

      I seen warnings about this posted at every WW checkout I've visited in Perth, for customers to read.

      Perhaps Coles should consider doing the same.

  • Youfah Mizzum on 28/04/2020 - 17:20
    +2

    Sounds like this. Not your husband OP?
    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/32kxzwn9

    • CyberMurning on 28/04/2020 - 17:23

      yes yes that is must be him…

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:27

      Not my husband but could be his story! A couple of differences though - none of the cards have been used as we didn't give the codes away, and we have spent $1000.

      • FireRunner on 28/04/2020 - 17:30
        +4

        Maybe someone else fell for the same scam. If so at least you tell your hubby that he wasn't the only one to fall for it.
        Also he picked up that it was a scam before sending the codes

        • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 17:44
          +5

          I know I can't expect much when asking for advice on the anonymous internet, but thanks for being nice about it :)

    • ihbh on 28/04/2020 - 20:35
      -2

      Sure sounds like it. Why the hell did OP post again, with a slightly different story?!

      • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 21:21
        +2

        I also don't understand why someone would post the same situation again either!

        (In your opinion, does one forum give better advice than the other? Because on here I've only gotten about 2 relevant comments to my questions above, and from my brief read of the WP topic it seemed more relevant and less finger pointing? I was hoping that Ozbargain would be a help, but perhaps I should be joining WP and posting my same questions on there?)

        I realise this may come across as sarcastic, as it is semi meant to be… But the question of Ozbargain vs WP is a legitimate one I would like to know!

        • ozbjunkie on 29/04/2020 - 09:18
          +3

          WP for active posting userbase and discussing technical questions… But I just use ozbargain to ask questions these days, plenty of knowledgeable folk here, and they focus on value for money not just ideal solutions.

          Reading existing threads for research is probably better on Whirlpool. My 2c.

          • Kathrifty on 29/04/2020 - 10:56
            +2

            @ozbjunkie: Thanks, that was my thought about Ozbargain too (the value for money part). I just didn't think there'd be so much smart-arsing going on, but then again I don't look at the forums much, so perhaps this is pretty typical?

            I did try to look up gift card scams for existing advice but I didn't come across the WP one! I wish I did because I may not have bothered posting here.

            • ozbjunkie on 29/04/2020 - 16:19
              +4

              @Kathrifty: Harden up. They only tease you because they like you. Were all mates here. Even though some of us seem to be complete dicks. Still mates.

  • EightImmortals on 28/04/2020 - 17:54
    +3

    Is your husband a government minister?

    • djones145 on 28/04/2020 - 20:58
      +1

      scomo wanted some iTunes cards to.buy some movies before this Hawaii trip
      totally legit

  • fruit on 28/04/2020 - 18:05
    +1

    I saw someone ask for a refund of 10x $100 visa gift cards the other day at Coles and got it.
    I reckon JB Hifi will refund you too just ask.

    OP can you please get your husband to do this https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/report-a-scam it'll help others.

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 18:24

      Amazing! Coles said they wouldn't do refunds in any gift cards but referred us to their customer care since they were unused… We'll see if that gets us anywhere.

      JB hifi couldn't - the staff member said that they could have overwritten it within 20 minutes, but even though we'd realised in that time we had gone home with our tail between our legs to do some scam research…

      Yes, he's reported the scam just now.

      • fruit on 28/04/2020 - 18:42

        Sent then an email: online_customer_service at jbhifi.com.au

  • FW190 on 28/04/2020 - 18:17

    pretty sure I saw a similar thread on WP a few days ago, I guess this is the latest scam going around?

    question - what does the scammer do with these iTune card credits? re-sale them on Gumtree?

    anyway, for a pleb like me, my CEO wouldn't know me from a bar of soap, so I guess I am safe :)

    • Kathrifty on 28/04/2020 - 18:29

      I'm assuming it's the link that a commenter mentioned above - and yes, extremely similar.

      Like the poster on WP my husband does work for a smallish company - not so small that everyone's friends, but big enough there is a hierarchy and he could be asked to do a more menial task like this.

      I asked myself the same thing about the iTunes gift cards - I think it is mostly resales but one article I read mentioned something about app developers spending on their own in-app purchases?? Too confusing for me.

      • uzz30 on 30/04/2020 - 09:01
        +2

        I think this article explains it quite well

        https://firstorion.com/how-do-scammers-use-itunes-gift-cards…

        It's an effective money laundering scheme;

        1) Put your cheap simple app(s) up in the iTunes store (doesn't need to be an original, probably just a copy paste from the scammer's toolkit)
        2) Scam iTunes card details from victims
        3) Redeem the scammed cards across a number of free Apple IDs
        4) Use those Apple IDs to make In-App purchases from your (il)legitimate app and watch the laundered money flow in

    • Gronk on 28/04/2020 - 18:41

      It's been around since last year, I know of someone who got caught out by this exact same scam last October… Knowing their employer it's already been reported to scam watch and anybody else who'll listen.

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