To help avoid detection, scammers then moved the discussion onto a text-based phone number. They instructed the employee to purchase a large amount of gift cards, which did not immediately strike the employee as suspicious as the business often uses gift cards in their daily activities. In the second case, scammers impersonated a local business operator and contacted one of the business’ employee’s through their work email. The criminals were then able to convince the victim to share the number on the back of the gift cards they just purchased, thus compromising the value of the cards. In the first case, a Victoria resident was negotiating an online vehicle sale when they were convinced to also purchase a Steam Wallet gift card by scammers. See also: Victoria residents lose over $20,000 to new type of phone scam
