Photo: Getty Images
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody this week is warning about gift card scammers and Palm Springs Police Chief Tom Ceccarelli doubles down on that warning, along with some advice.
"People will go through the stores and they'll scan the numbers and they'll keep checking the cards to the business that operates the gift cards until it gets a balance on it and then they'll use up that balance. I usually dig deeper into the pile of gift cards when I'm buying them so they're not like the first ones on the rack just to try to avoid things like that."
Other tips include inspecting cards before you purchase one at a store. Look carefully at the packaging for any tears, wrinkles or other indications of tampering.
Also, buy a gift card directly from the card's merchant, never use little-known third party websites.
The chief also warns against scammers reaching out to you, claiming to be from the police, IRS or a utility company and claiming you need to pay off a debt with a gift card. He says no legitimate entity will require payment via gift cards. If you get a call like that, Ceccarelli says to hang up and then call the police and report it.
Click Here for more tips from the Florida Attorney General's Office.
Meanwhile, the Village of Palm Springs Police Department is excited to announce that this year's 12th Annual Stuff a Cruiser Toy Drive will once again be an event.
For the past couple of years due to COVID, the only way to donate has been to show up wherever the holiday-decorated police cruiser would be located on that day. But Chief Ceccarelli says tomorrow there will be a lot going on at the Village Complex near the police station.
"We're gonna have a couple of bounce houses out there, kind of a train ride for the kids. You can get your picture with Santa. (We're) having some giveaways. We'll have some vendors. It's kind of an event just to get people back from the community to interact. If they have questions, they can interact with officers."
Photo: Palm Springs Police Dept.
He says all they're asking is that you bring a new, unwrapped toy for children in our community who otherwise may not have a present under the tree.
The donations are split between the Salvation Army of Palm Beach County and Adopt-a-Family in Lake Worth.
The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.