“Scammers like to get gift cards as payment as it’s easy for them to quickly sell them on secondary markets and pocket the cash,” ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said. Losses to scams where non-iTunes gift cards were used as payment increased by 530 per cent in 2018 to around $1 million. However Scamwatch has also seen an increase in reports involving other gift cards such as Google Play, Amazon, and Steam cards, and Australia Post Load & Go prepaid debit cards. ITunes cards accounted for $3.1 million in losses – a 156 per cent increase from the $1.23 million reported in 2017. Scamwatch reports show more than $5 million was lost in 2018, a 38 per cent increase compared with 2017. Gift cards are increasingly the payment method of choice for scammers.
