A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

--
Davey.

On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Correction: £300 worth.
--
Davey.

I have no idea what they are. Have you tried actually asking them?
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Davey" wrote in message
news:20210528141550.2f5d4ced@david-NL40-50CU...
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Correction: £300 worth.
--
Davey.

On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:30:18 +0100, "Brian Gaff \(Sofa\)"
wrote:

I have no idea what they are. Have you tried actually asking them?
Brian

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Davey" wrote in message
news:20210528141550.2f5d4ced@david-NL40-50CU...
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?

Correction: £300 worth.

I would be suspicious too but is it possible that it is a legitimate
way of making a purchase online using a gift card - same as you are
sometimes asked to enter the promotion code?

On 28/05/2021 14:30, Brian Gaff (Sofa) wrote:
I have no idea what they are. Have you tried actually asking them?
Brian

Steam cards are gift cards for the Steam gaming platform. They can be
bought online or in WHSmith and supermarkets. The number on the back is
used to transfer the value from the card to the Steam account.

In article 20210528141312.2c1a74a3@david-NL40-50CU,
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

Yes. (Most likely.)

If you were asked by her in person then she is being scammed.

If you were asked by her by text or email, actually you weren't and
you are being scammed.

Steve

--

Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/gift-card-scams

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Thanks, folks. A good thing my inner sceptic ruled, and I didn't buy
any.

--
Davey.

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/gift-card-scams

this is someone scamming you out of money that you don't owe

and then using the gift card scam to collect it, so that you have no route
to claiming it back when you discover you have been scammed.

The OP wants (FSVO) to pay his friend this amount of money, so can't be
being scammed in this way

If the OP is being scammed here, it is much more subtle

On 28/05/2021 14:13, Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

Was it really a friend or was it some crook who had scammed her email
address?

Bill

tim... wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/gift-card-scams

this is someone scamming you out of money that you don't owe

There are a number of different gift token scams, this is just another one.


and then using the gift card scam to collect it, so that you have no route
to claiming it back when you discover you have been scammed.

The OP wants (FSVO) to pay his friend this amount of money, so can't be
being scammed in this way

No, the OP is being ASKED, by someone purporting to be his friend to buy
expensive gift vouchers and then immediately give away the value of said
vouchers by sending images of the codes.


If the OP is being scammed here, it is much more subtle

You must get scammed a lot if you cant see the glaring danger in this. Is
your email address valid? ;-)

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

williamwright wrote:
On 28/05/2021 14:13, Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

Was it really a friend or was it some crook who had scammed her email
address?


Any money you like its the latter. ;-)

Seriously, the is a well known and reasonably well publicised scam.
Obviously not well publicised enough for some folk here.

Tim


--
Please don't feed the trolls

"Davey" wrote in message
news:20210528141550.2f5d4ced@david-NL40-50CU...
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Correction: £300 worth.

Dont see why it would be a scam.

Its likely they cant buy the gift cards easily and
want her niece to be able to use the money for
online purchases more quickly than you posting
the physical cards to her.

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/gift-card-scams

Thats talking about a very different situation, a cold caller
asking you to do that, not someone use the gift card as a gift

On Sat, 29 May 2021 05:17:53 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH troll****

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 86-year-old senile Australian
cretin's pathological trolling:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On Sat, 29 May 2021 05:28:55 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

--
Senile Rodent about himself:
"I was involved in the design of a computer OS"
MID:

LOL!!!

Rod Speed wrote:


"Davey" wrote in message
news:20210528141550.2f5d4ced@david-NL40-50CU...
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Correction: £300 worth.

Dont see why it would be a scam.

Its likely they cant buy the gift cards easily and
want her niece to be able to use the money for
online purchases more quickly than you posting
the physical cards to her.



Idiot.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tp7x

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy ?00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

This sounds exactly like a scam reported (again) on R4 this
week; especially the "off the backs to reveal PIN numbers,
and then send a photo of them".

#Paul

On 28/05/2021 14:15, Davey wrote:
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?

Correction: £300 worth.

How is your friend going to reimburse you? Why can't she buy them herself?

--
Max Demian

On 28/05/2021 14:13, Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?

That depends... If you have actually spoken to the friend and know that
it's a genuine request, and you are happy spending £300 on the nieces
present, then perhaps its legit.

If you have had some other kind of communication where you can't
positively identify the friend, then you need to check with them using
an alternative communications channel. e.g. a text or an email alone
would be suspect.

There are other ways of buying steam gifts:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...hp?p_faqid=549

Gift cards described he

https://store.steampowered.com/digitalgiftcards/

There is also a digital gift card - you can buy online and send direct
to the niece.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Rod Speed wrote:


"Davey" wrote in message
news:20210528141550.2f5d4ced@david-NL40-50CU...
On Fri, 28 May 2021 14:13:12 +0100
Davey wrote:

A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to
reveal PIN numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds
weird to me, is it some kind of scam?


Correction: £300 worth.

Dont see why it would be a scam.

Its likely they cant buy the gift cards easily and
want her niece to be able to use the money for
online purchases more quickly than you posting
the physical cards to her.

Idiot.

We'll see...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tp7x

Thats not taking about a FRIEND asking you to do it.

John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On Sat, 29 May 2021 09:53:14 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

Idiot.

We'll see...

EVERYONE sees it EVERY DAY, senile Rodent! G

--
Bod addressing abnormal senile quarreller Rot:
"Do you practice arguing with yourself in an empty room?"
MID:

On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of
£300 to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".


--
Adam

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.

If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face
I doubt the OP would have posted here.

More fool you.

The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than
posting to a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Nope, not if the niece prefers to be able to use the cards quickly.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate

Not remotely at all.

but given that this is a well recognised scam
doing the rounds at the moment leads me
to strongly suspect that this *isnt* genuine.

Your problem and easy to check if the friend did request it.

"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to
me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting
to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of £300
to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

Plenty dont. A mate of mine repays me cash instead of using
an instant bank transfer even tho I have told him about the
better way more than once now.

Not everyone is aware of the best way to do things.

On Sat, 29 May 2021 19:55:15 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

Plenty don¢t. A mate of mine repays

"A mate of yours"? Your senile imagination running amuck again, you
forsaken, sleepless, senile troll? LOL

--
Norman Wells addressing trolling senile Rodent:
"Ah, the voice of scum speaks."
MID:

On Sat, 29 May 2021 19:37:23 +1000, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH the trolling senile asshole's latest troll**** unread

--
Richard addressing senile Rodent Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
tim... wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/gift-card-scams

this is someone scamming you out of money that you don't owe

There are a number of different gift token scams, this is just another
one.


and then using the gift card scam to collect it, so that you have no
route
to claiming it back when you discover you have been scammed.

The OP wants (FSVO) to pay his friend this amount of money, so can't be
being scammed in this way

No, the OP is being ASKED, by someone purporting to be his friend to buy
expensive gift vouchers and then immediately give away the value of said
vouchers by sending images of the codes.


Well I had rather assumed that the OP did actually verify that it was his
friend asking for this

Surely that's the first step you would take if you thought is was a scam,
before WASTING THE TIME OF the world asking "is this a scam"?

Frankly, if he hasn't done this, I am very very annoyed with the OP for
wasting my time, even if you are not.

Especially as 300 pounds seems rather a lot to be gifting to a niece of a
friend. 20 pound seem more appropriate for that to me. So it seems
reasonable to assume that there is some special reason for it being 300
pound that has been discussed by the OP and his friend.

If the OP is being scammed here, it is much more subtle

You must get scammed a lot if you cant see the glaring danger in this.

only because you think that I am idiotic enough to act on an email message
alone.

which I am most certainly not

Is
your email address valid? ;-)

AIH no

I haven't read it for ages.

"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to
me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting
to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of £300
to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

some people like the idea of giving gift cards instead of money, they
consider it a more thoughtful gift.

gift cards wouldn't exists if there weren't such people

"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...


"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to
me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting
to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of
£300 to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

Plenty dont. A mate of mine repays me cash instead of using
an instant bank transfer even tho I have told him about the
better way more than once now.

until we recently changed the system, bank transfers ran the risk of you
accidentally transferring the money to the wrong account number and having a
mare are getting it back

handing over folding money has no such risk

tim... wrote:


until we recently changed the system, bank transfers ran the risk of you
accidentally transferring the money to the wrong account number and having a
mare are getting it back

I thought that all banks checked payee details before allowing transfers
these days but I was surprised to discover last week (whilst transferring
£10,000) that this isnt possible when transferring to Clydesdale/Virgin
money accounts.

Dont think Ive ever checked sort code and account numbers more carefully
in my life. ;-)

I hope that as payee checking becomes more normalised, banks that *dont*
do this will become liable for any losses incurred by account number
errors.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

On 29/05/2021 11:58, tim... wrote:


"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird
to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%.Â* Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here.Â* The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than
posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of
£300 to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

some people like the idea of giving gift cards instead of money, they
consider it a more thoughtful gift.

gift cards wouldn't exists if there weren't such people






gift cards are, in the majority of cases, only in existence because
unimaginative people "have" to give a present to someone that they do
not care about and the shops know that..



--
Adam

On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.

So given the possibility that there are genuine cases where this might
not be a scam, you accept that calling a poster an idiot for *asking the
question* was rather hash?


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.

So given the possibility that there are genuine cases where this might
not be a scam, you accept that calling a poster an idiot for *asking the
question* was rather hash?

It was Rod. I wouldnt normally make such accusations but I make exceptions
for him. ;-)

John, you are without a doubt the fairest minded and most reasonable person
in this group but I think youre bending over backwards to legitimise what
is 99.9% certain to be a scam in this case.

Yes, there is a tiny possibility that its not but given the amount of
money, for a relation of a friend, by a means that most folk are not
familiar with and requesting the codes by photograph is just waving so many
red flags that Im a bit amazed that you consider it possibly legitimate.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

"tim..." wrote in message
...


"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...


"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to
me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than
posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of
£300 to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

Plenty dont. A mate of mine repays me cash instead of using
an instant bank transfer even tho I have told him about the
better way more than once now.

until we recently changed the system, bank transfers ran the risk of you
accidentally transferring the money to the wrong account number and having
a mare are getting it back

Ours allows the transfer to the mobile number or
email address so its not hard to avoid that risk.

handing over folding money has no such risk

But has other real downsides. Mate of mine who I have
done lots of electronic transactions for because he was
too young to have his own bank account or ebay account
and whose parents dont have a clue about anything
other than making a phone call on a mobile phone,
decided that he wanted an iphone x while he was still
in school, about to go to the capital city to stay with
the relos for the school holidays and unsurprisingly
wanted to be able to use the new phone there.

He had the cash, in $100 notes but they are useless
when buying an iphone from the apple store. So he
showed up at my place, I bought it from the store
and he handed me the cash. Worked fine.

"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 11:58, tim... wrote:


"ARW" wrote in message
...
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a
present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to
me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the
circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than
posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly
suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.


+1

If it was legit then a normal person would ask for a bank transfer of
£300 to a known bank account and not use "scratch cards".

some people like the idea of giving gift cards instead of money, they
consider it a more thoughtful gift.

gift cards wouldn't exists if there weren't such people

gift cards are, in the majority of cases, only in existence because
unimaginative people "have" to give a present to someone that they do not
care about and the shops know that..

They are also much more likely to see the recipient
end up with something they actually want rather
than having to give it to someone else next time.

On 29/05/2021 13:25, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 29/05/2021 08:24, Tim+ wrote:
John Rumm wrote:
On 28/05/2021 17:23, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
A friend has asked me to buy £00 worth 0f Steam gift cards as a present
for her niece, and asks that I scratch off the backs to reveal PIN
numbers, and then send a photo of them to her. This sounds weird to me,
is it some kind of scam?


Its a scam, 100%. Been covered on several radio programs.

Tim

Given the information presented so far - that is not at all clear. Yes
it could well be, but it could also be legit depending on the circumstance.



If the €œfriend€� had asked face to face I doubt the OP would have posted
here. The requirement to send photos of the numbers rather than posting to
a known address is also a huge €œred flag€�.

Yes, remotely it could be legitimate but given that this is a well
recognised scam doing the rounds at the moment leads me to strongly suspect
that this *isnt* genuine.

So given the possibility that there are genuine cases where this might
not be a scam, you accept that calling a poster an idiot for *asking the
question* was rather hash?

It was Rod. I wouldnt normally make such accusations but I make exceptions
for him. ;-)

If it was, sorry I had not realised that was one of his socks... in
which case feel free to call him anything you like :-)

John, you are without a doubt the fairest minded and most reasonable person
in this group but I think youre bending over backwards to legitimise what
is 99.9% certain to be a scam in this case.

Yes, there is a tiny possibility that its not but given the amount of
money, for a relation of a friend, by a means that most folk are not
familiar with and requesting the codes by photograph is just waving so many
red flags that Im a bit amazed that you consider it possibly legitimate.

I fully agree that it sounds scammy (and as you might expect with my
job, I do spend lots of time looking at such things!) however since
there was scope for it being legit I was reserving judgement until more
was known.

(also Steam gift cards seem a less ideal way of recovering useable cash
when compared to many of the other more easy to spend or refund options
available)



--
Cheers,

John.

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