A friend of mine, who works in hospitality, sent me a link to a Starbucks giftcard that she thought was from a friend.
It looked legit, but there was a couple of big red flags that I could have picked up on: it said it was “for your convenience”, it was from Australia, and it was in the country where I live.
But when I opened the card up, I found out the card was actually from Canada.
So my friend was completely duped.
She sent me an email to let me know about this scam, and we were able to get a refund.
“It was a pretty funny experience,” she told News.au.
“My friend, who lives in Sydney, was in a hurry to get to her job in Victoria so she had an appointment for a friend to come over, so she just didn’t have time to go shopping, so when she arrived, she had to wait outside for the bus to take her home.”
And I saw a few people on the street who were wearing a Star Wars hoodie and I thought, ‘Oh my god, I’m the Star Wars guy!’
It’s so cute!” she said.
“But it definitely got my attention,” she added. “
People have sent me messages saying it’s the best Christmas gift ever, they love the fact that I made it all up,” she said, adding that her friend was also pretty impressed with her “unique gift”.
“But it definitely got my attention,” she added.
The scam is currently affecting more than a million people in the US, with some users receiving refunds that range from $200 to $1,000.