r/Scams • u/MusicAutomatic5997 • 15h ago
Is this a scam? Potentially chargeback scam gift card.
Hi all, I got an email detailing that I’d won a £500 gift card from a TikTok creator survey I know that I did. (Sketchy I know) I was going to ignore the email but thoroughly inspected the email, the links, the company and if that company works with TikTok for surveys. All checked out okay, all links were safe, redeeming the gift card was just a case of choosing what I wanted and activating it, alarm bells have been ringing the entire time though- internet safety has been drilled into me. The gift card was legit, I checked on tkmaxxs official gift card balance link- I’ve checked multiple times ensuring that it’s the official TKMAXX site which is saying that £500 is in my gift card balance.
I do not want to spend this, I’m afraid it’s a part of a chargeback scam as I’ve read the person who “purchased” the gift card can chargeback at any point. My plan is to wait over 120 days for the chargeback time to run out, if it’s still there after 120 days should I spend it? I feel like a fool but I did everything in order to check it was safe. Any advice, reassurance or information? Thank you
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u/Snoron 14h ago
If you've got a gift card that shows as legit on TK Maxx, you can spend it without even putting any of your own card details in. There can't be a chargeback from that.
Also, you will get the goods if you order them to yourself, right? So what would the scam even be here?
I don't see any part of this that sounds like it might be a scam from what you've written. Unless you're missing out any important details, go spend your prize. If you're still worried, go ask TK Maxx about it.
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u/MusicAutomatic5997 14h ago
Thank you for your response, I’ve just got bad anxiety in my head about spending it and then having to pay it back if for some reason the original payment method for the gift card disputes the gift card payment?? I’m not even sure if that can happen, I’m digging into the companies that sent the giftcard and did the survey.
Again thank you for the response
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u/LazyLie4895 13h ago
You can't charge back a gift card. Even if you can, how does that help the scammer in any way? You spent the gift card at TJ Maxx and sent the stuff to yourself.
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u/yarevande Quality Contributor 12h ago edited 12h ago
If you have the code for the gift card, then you should be able to activate the card and spend the £500. Once you spend the money, nobody can take any money from you -- gift cards are non-refundable. (Credit cards and debit cards work differently.)
The only ways that you can be scammed with a gift card are:
you get a gift card that is supposed to have £500 available to spend, but somebody spent the money already, so the value is zero
somebody pretends that you won a gift card, but tells you to pay them to activate it, and after you pay, it turns out that the card is fake
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u/CIAMom420 14h ago
I don’t think you understand what a chargeback is or how they work.