How Can I Use My Gift Card?
Gift Cards are used for:
Goods & services at retail locations
Thank You gifts
Holiday gifts
Birthday gifts
Gift Cards are NOT used for:
IRS Tax Payments
Medical Payments
Utility Payments
Bail Money
How Can I Protect Myself From Fraud?
Never use gift cards to pay for taxes, bail money, or anything outside customary Gift Card usage at a retailer’s location (online or in-store).
Never share the gift card number or pin/code on the back of the gift card.
Call a family member to talk through a call you receive. Validate if a family member is really in trouble. Call your local police department to validate you don’t have any warrants or various other threats fraudsters use as a threat.
How Do I Know If I’m Being Scammed?
Someone might be trying to scam you if they ask you to buy a gift card and share the card number or pin/code in order to pay for something outside of the normal use of the gift card.
A scammer calls and pretends to be from a government agency (like the IRS). The scammer says that you owe money for taxes, bail money, debt collection, utility bills and more. They tell you in order to avoid arrest, or to prevent the seizure of physical items or your personal identification information (like your SSN), you have to pay them with gift cards.
A scammer claims to be a family member in trouble, an attorney, a boss from your company, or another representative of your family member. The scammer tells you that they need to be paid in gift cards in order to remediate the situation. They may deter you from attempts to contact the family member or person they are claiming to be to verify the claim. Don’t believe them. Never buy gift cards for them or provide them with any gift card numbers or pins/codes over the phone or through email.
These examples only cover some types of scams. Scammers constantly change the ways they trick people. If anyone asks you for a gift card number or pin/code, it could be a scam.
What Do I Do If I’m A Victim Of A Gift Card Scam?
Report the scam
If you’re a victim of a gift card scam, report the scam to your local police department. You can also report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission.
If you are a victim and the card is an Albertsons Companies gift card, contact our Customer Service Center. If you report the scam, it may help you and others from similar suspicious activities in the future. Call 1-877-723-3929, option # 4 to speak to our Gift Cards Customer Service Team.