Gift card scams continue to be reported throughout Palm Beach County.
"No matter how much you put out about this and how much you try to tell the public, we still get about two calls a month from people that are getting scammed to purchase gift cards for different things...whether they get a call from the IRS or sometimes someone claims to be a family member in need. And people go out, they buy these gift cards thinking they're doing something they need to do but they're not, they're being scammed."
Palm Springs Police Chief Tom Ceccarelli tells us about one such call last month.
"They got a call from a person claiming to be an officer from our department. Even their Caller ID had our number spoofed on it, something about their Social Security number was compromised and they needed $5,000 in gift cards."
He says that would-be victim was in the middle of complying with the thief when they thought the better of it and actually called the real cops. And that's what Chief Ceccarelli suggests.
"I would call up the company or whoever that person says they're representing and talk to the supervisor or ask for the person just to make sure."
He says local drug stores have posted signs warning against these scams, right where gift cards are sold.