Chicago area seniors tricked into spending $6,000 on gift card scam
CHICAGO (CBS) – Two suburban seniors shared their story of falling victim to a gift card scam in order to warn others.
Consumers should know that if they're ever asked to fix a tech or financial problem by buying gift cards, it is a scam.
"I'm upset, and I'm angry with myself, allowing myself to be taken," said Ila Wolen, a scam victim.
Wolen and Mark Hoffman got emotional thinking about how they got caught up in a classic scam.
"I'm just so glad we're able to bring this story to the forefront for other seniors that are out there," Hoffman said.
It started with a warning about a "locked" Amazon account. The texts seemed suspicious so Wolen called what she thought was the Amazon Prime support team.
"'You have been hacked,'" Wolen recalled being told. "Automatically, your heart starts to sink."
A panicked Wolen rushed out the door, following instructions to catch the hackers by baiting them with a random gift card. She was promised her money back and did get an email with a "refund."
"I thought, 'OK, maybe this is legitimate,'" she said.
So she continued buying gift cards, including a dozen for Nordstrom. Hoffman told a friend what was happening.
Hoffman said his friend said, "Tell her to get off the phone right away. It's a scam." All in, Wolen said she spent $6,000 on gift cards.
They reported the problem to Nordstrom customer service and even got an email from the retailer confirming the cards were marked stolen.
"We were told at that point that none of them had been used," Wolen said. "They all had full value, that they were putting a freeze on every one of the gift cards so they could not be used."
The news from Nordstrom brought the couple a sigh of relief. A crisis was averted, or so they thought.
"Three months later, we find out there's nothing on any of the cards," Wolen said.
They were left on the hook for thousands of dollars spent. They asked Nordstrom how the supposedly frozen gift cards got used.
Hoffman said he was told it looked like "somebody definitely made a mistake."
"I'm going, 'Really?'" he said.
A positive but confusing twist in the story led CBS 2 to visit Hoffman and Wolen in person. After CBS 2 reached out to Nordstrom, the company sent over a $550 balance left on the cards that the seniors swore they were told were wiped clean.
"Obviously, because of you and the pressure CBS put on them, without a doubt, that's exactly why she called me," Hoffman said.
They also received an update from Capital One after CBS 2 got involved. The bank granted Wolen a credit for one of the gift cards after previously denying her claim.
The disputes she made for gift card purchases using her account at U.S. Bank also got a second look after CBS 2's inquiries. The couple wanted to broadcast their mistake as a warning to others.
"If we don't tell our story, it's going to happen to someone else," Wolen.
Consumers are warned that no legitimate business or government entity will ask to be paid in gift cards.
Nordstrom wouldn't comment on the couple's situation except to say it was "a good-faith gesture" for the company to return some money to Wolen.
She purchased many of the gift cards from Jewel. A spokesperson for the grocery store said its employees are trained to question customers, especially seniors, who purchase gift cards.
