Google approves a Target gift card scam ad
2 Min Read
Victims of gift card scams have "lost a total of $148 million within the first nine months of 2021— more than all of 2020."
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Google approves a Target gift card scam ad
Google accidentally approves an advertisement for a Target gift card balance checker scam that steals funds, The Verge reported.
When searching "Target gift card balance'' on Google, a Reddit user managed to recognize the gift card balance scam. The first link that appears on the results page says “Check Gift Card Balance - Target.”
However, the website is actually called bristolhirevan and is not related to Target, but looks very similar to the original website and has its links that promise a weekly gift redirected to the original Target homepage.
"If you were really in a rush (and were somehow distracted enough to ignore the mention of vans), you just might accidentally enter your gift card’s number and security code here, resulting in it getting stolen," The Verge noted.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), victims of gift card scams have "lost a total of $148 million within the first nine months of 2021— more than all of 2020."
Scammers' cards of choice are Target gift cards, where people "were scammed out of $35 million worth of Target gift cards in 2020, more than double the amount of any other gift card brand," FTC data show.
A Bleeping Computer report published in 2020 underlines that Target is "one of the most popular sites for scammers to replicate," The Verge mentioned.
