All’s well that ends well.
This idiom, popularized by William Shakespeare, in his play of the same title, refers to something that concludes satisfactorily even though the events that led to the conclusion were everything but.
It also is an apt description of what happened to a Barrhead area resident that was tricked into purchasing $3,500 in Amazon gift cards from the local I.D.A. RX Drug Mart.
Fortunately the woman -— who we will call Jane — was able to get her money back through the kindness of the store’s parent company and did not forward the cards to the scammers.
In mid-September, Jane received a message through Facebook Messenger, a text-based real-time messaging app, from a person who she thought was her best friend.
In the course of their conversation, Jane’s “best friend” said she just got a $50,000 grant and all she had to do in return was buy $1,500 in Amazon gift cards.
The scammer went on to say there was an additional grant of $200,000 available for women of their age (approximately 60 years old). However, $3,500 in gift cards would be needed to access it.
The scammer then sent Jane a link, which she clicked. It led her to another text conversation where the person “confirmed” the legitimacy of the grant program.
Convinced it was legit, Jane went out to buy the gift cards the next day, but after got home she started to have doubts.
“Something just didn’t sit right with her. So she decided to give her friend a call and she said not only did she not message her, but she had never heard of the grants,” said Jane’s daughter.
“The teller asked her all the appropriate questions, but my mom was adamant that is what she wanted to do.”
Even more concerning to the daughter than her mother being duped into buying $3,500 in Amazon gift cards is that in the process of having two text conversations with the fraudsters, her mother had revealed her name, phone number and e-mail address which could have potentially been used to defraud her of more money.
Once Jane realized she was the victim of a scam, she changed all her banking information and changed her telephone number.
Regional Director RX Drug Mart Owen Hazel said that ordinarily it is impossible for his or any store to refund a gift card.
“It is something POS [point of sales] systems cannot do in general once a gift card is loaded,” he said via e-mail, noting the window for reversal (if it’s possible at all) is less than 24 hours.
“The front store manager Meghan Johnson and her team, feeling a great deal of empathy for the customer’s situation, reached out to me and asked if there was anything we could do for the customer. My immediate thoughts were ‘Unfortunately not’ due to the nature of gift cards; but fortunately, we found a way to return her money.”
Barrhead RCMP Sgt. Bob Dodds said this is the first he has heard of any scam regarding grants.
“Grant applications are just that you put in your submission and either you are successful or you are not. To my understanding, there is no grant application out there where you need to put money up out front,” he said.
As for how to avoid this scam, Dodds said, before sending any money it is important for people to do their due diligence and remember the adage: “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”
Although Dodds said this is the first time he has heard this type of scam where fraudsters illicit money by enticing people of the thought of free grant money, it is similar to one reported through scam-detector.com where a person receives a Facebook message from a friend or relative stating that they have the opportunity to apply for a non-advertised government grant.
The message contains a link to what looks like a government website which says they are giving out grants to start small businesses, et cetera for a limited time.
As for ways to avoid the Facebook Grant scam, the website recommends to refuse to proceed if you are rushed to pay a fee.
Also, try to tlk to the real person who sent you the message. If you really can’t speak to them, examine the website very carefully.
Click on the links that should be on the real government’s website to see if they all take you where they claim they do.
An official government website will always have links to their programs and services, contacts in different departments, news releases, etc.
