Fraud Prevention

Tips to Help Avoid Gift Card Fraud:

• Kwik Trip gift cards and scrip cards can only be used at Kwik Trip, Kwik Star and Tobacco Outlet Plus Grocery stores. Utility companies, and government agencies, including the IRS, Treasury Department, FBI or local police department, will not accept any form of gift cards as payment.
• Other businesses do not accept payments in the form of Kwik Trip gift cards. For example, you will never be asked to pay your utility bills, bail money, debt collection and hospital bills with Kwik Trip gift cards.
• Do not sell, purchase or check your balance of any Kwik Trip gift card or scrip card on any other website outside of Kwiktrip.com.
• If you receive a call from a stranger who says that a loved one is in trouble and they ask you to provide gift card numbers to help them, hang up and contact your loved one directly. You will never pay a legitimate source with any type of gift card (Google Play, iTunes, Amazon, Kwik Trip, etc.).
• Do not provide any gift card numbers over the phone to anyone that you do not know.
• Do not always trust your caller ID. Scammers can manipulate a caller ID to look like a legitimate company or government agency.
• Do not purchase any gift card if it appears that the packaging has been altered or manipulated. If you have any questions regarding a card, please ask a Kwik Trip Employee to assist you.
• Regardless of the specific scam call you may receive, scammers will always follow the same process with each scam and create a sense of urgency and ask you to pay them through a gift card. Many times, the scammer will ask you to stay on the phone with them while you purchase the gift card and they will tell you not to tell anyone who you are speaking with and to say you are purchasing the gift card as a gift for a family member. Then they will ask you to provide the gift card details to them over the phone and will drain the card almost immediately and you will be out the funds.

Scams:

Phone Phishing

Phone phishing is when a fraudster calls directly and asks you do something like provide personal information.

• A fraudster may be trying to access your account, using “social engineering” techniques to trick you into providing information that others can use to access and use against you. They can also use this information to assume your identity and open new accounts.
• Kwik Trip will not expect you to provide your social security number or other personal information when we call you. If you receive a call like this, do not provide any information. If in doubt, call back a trusted number for the company, such as one on a statement or invoice, the back of your credit/debit card, or on their official website (do not use the phone number provided by the person on the phone).

 

Email Phishing:

Email phishing is when a fraudster sends out a legitimate-looking email in an attempt to gather personal and financial information such as your social security number, driver’s license, credit card information, or bank information, often luring you with a sense of urgency.

• For example, the fraudster sends an email to a customer to be lured into entering their User ID and password. If the customer falls for this “bait” (thus the “fishing” reference), the fraudster could get credit card numbers, PINs, account passwords, credit card numbers, and bank account numbers.
• Avoid fraudulent sites by entering web addresses directly into the browser yourself or by using bookmarks you create. Do not click on links in emails that you did not directly request from a company or that look suspicious.

 

SMS Phishing:

Also referred to as Smishing, when a fraudster sends fraudulent messages over SMS (text messaging) rather than an email.

• Often the text will contain a URL or phone number. The phone number often has an automated voice response system to mimic a human.

Tips to Help Avoid Gift Card Fraud:

• Never provide personal information to an unsolicited request. A trusted company will never ask a customer for highly sensitive information during a call they initiated. A customer may be asked from a financial institution or card company for the account holder’s partial Social Security Number for verification, but they will never ask for the entire Social Security Number.
• Do not respond to any suspicious looking email, automated calls, or text messages.
• Don’t trust the Caller ID. Fraudsters can manipulate the Caller ID to have it display a legitimate business’ name. To be safe, you can check to see if the phone number matches the number that appears on your statement, credit/debit card, or on their official website.

If you think you have been a victim to a scam, report it to the Federal Trade Commission at https://ftccomplaintassistant.gov/ and your local law enforcement agency.