What you should know about the new scam ‘draining’ gift cards before they’re even sold

When time’s running short to finish your holiday shopping, buying gift cards from the local big box or grocery store is an easy way to cross the task off your list, especially when you just don’t know what to get.

But the thieves behind a relatively new scam are making it a less-than-holly-jolly experience, according to police and industry experts. Known as “card draining,” the scheme erases the value from the cards before you can even put a bow on them.

Draining works like this: Thieves take unactivated cards off store racks, tamper with them to reveal their account numbers and PINs, and then place the cards back on the shelves.

When an unsuspecting customer comes along to purchase the card and gets it activated at the store register, it gives the scammer access to the balance.

While thieves will just use the info to make purchases — sometimes reselling the items for cash — federal authorities say international crime syndicates also operate the scam to fund fentanyl production and smuggling, illegal migration and human trafficking.

How can you tell if a card has been messed with? It can be difficult.

The Retail Gift Card Association and Homeland Security Investigations suggest examining the card and its packaging closely. Look for missing pieces, the PIN area being scratched off and re-covered, and whether the package is flat and smooth or wrinkled. You can also examine edges and zigzag security strips for little paper fibers that may indicate a sharp knife was used to open them.

And if there is any trouble or odd messages that pop up when buying a gift card, don’t complete the transaction. Instead, alert a store worker and give the suspect card to them.

The association also recommends buying cards only from trusted sellers, being wary of too-good-to-be-true deals, especially from online sellers, and keeping your original receipt, in case there is a problem.

The RGCA represents the closed-loop gift card industry — meaning cards that can only be used at specific retailers and restaurants. Open-loop gift cards, such as Mastercard and Visa cards that can be used anywhere, are also targets of scams.

St. Charles case

We recently came across a similar case here in the suburbs.

According to a St. Charles police report from September, a security worker at the local Meijer store reported a suspicious man later identified as Jianwang Zhang, 31, of New York. The same man had been noticed earlier that day at the Meijer store in Elgin and was suspected of placing compromised gift cards at Meijer stores in Algonquin and Mount Prospect, reports indicate.

He was found with a “large stack” of cards for Sephora, Z-Razer and Lululemon, among others, according to the report. The man told police he was to send stolen cards to an address in California, and that he was paid 50 cents per card. He denied putting compromised cards back on the rack.

Police consulted with HSI, which is running Operation Red Hook, an investigation into how Chinese organized crime groups are committing gift-card fraud (although it is not limited to one ethnic group, HSI cautions). HSI says these groups have cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars, and that the money they obtain is being used for trafficking drugs and humans.

Zhang ultimately was charged with burglary, tampering with a credit or debit card and resisting arrest. He’s scheduled to appear in court today.

In the meantime, don’t be surprised if you have to go to a customer-service desk or a staffed checkout lane to get a card, as stores try to crack down on draining and other gift-card-related theft. One of our coworkers said that when she tried to buy a Sephora card at a Jewel-Osco, she had to take a dummy card to the customer service desk, where the real cards were stored.

And if you’re a victim? Call the number on the back of the card to report it, and if you file a report with local police, ask them to contact HSI’s Operation Red Hook.

Ex-coach sentenced

A former track coach at Downers Grove North and South high schools has been sentenced to more than 19 years in federal prison for enticing numerous children to produce and record sexually explicit conduct, authorities say.

Glenn Clifford Messmer, 48, of Darien, was sentenced last week, after pleading guilty in July to a charge of production of child pornography.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago, Messmer communicated with children on the social media platforms Telegram and Snapchat and paid them to produce sexually explicit material.

He maintained detailed notes about his victims, identifying their names, ages, friends, years in school, physical features and willingness to engage with him, federal prosecutors said.

A law enforcement search of Messmer’s electronic devices after his arrest in 2023 showed that he possessed more than 350,000 images and nearly 18,000 videos depicting child sexual abuse, authorities said.

Messmer started work as an assistant girls track coach at Downers Grove South in April 2021, according to a statement from Community High School District 99. He also volunteered as a track coach at both Downers Grove high schools during the 2019-20 school years and at the Downers Grove South track summer camp in 2020 as well, according to the statement.

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