The Saint John Police Force headquarters. (Staff photo)
Saint John Police are sending out a warning about fraudulent gift cards.
Officers have been alerted to tampered gift cards sold in packaging.
“In most cases, the cards are either removed from the store and brought back or taken to another part of the store and then returned to the shelf once they have been altered with,” said Constable Duane Squires in a release.
The packaging is opened slightly, and a fake barcode is slipped in on top of the real barcode.
“The fraudulent card will have an additional barcode at the top of the card, which scans as a different card. A little strip of whiteout is over one bar of the original barcode, so the cashier will automatically activate the fraudulent barcode,” explained Squires.
If you believe a gift card you purchased has been tampered with, contact the store to report it.
Police are also reminding businesses to check its stock of gift cards to ensure they haven’t been tampered with.
