‘Very embarrassing’: Ontario couple buys $100 gift card only to find out it was worthless

Pat Foran takes a closer look at how criminals can tamper with gift cards and drain them of their balances before you get a chance to use them.

A Toronto couple is speaking out about their frustrations after finding out that the $100 gift card they purchased for a friend was worthless.

Elaine Terry and her husband, Peter Terry, bought the LCBO gift card at a Shoppers Drug Mart location.

They gave it to a close friend about a month ago, but when he went to make a purchase with it, he discovered that it was empty.

“He called and said he had been to the LCBO to use the gift card and it had a zero balance,” Peter Terry told CTV News Toronto.

“We felt so bad because every year we would give him a gift card,” Elaine Terry added. “It was very embarrassing, very embarrassing.”

Gift cards are a popular present over the holidays, and the vast majority are given and received without any trouble.

But occasionally you could end up with one that’s been tampered with, leaving you with a zero balance.

If you get or give a gift card that turns out to be empty, it can be months trying to get your money back.

That is precisely what happened to Peter and Elaine Terry.

They told CTV News Toronto that they spent nearly a month being bounced back and forth between Shoppers Drug Mart and the LCBO with neither side offering a refund.

“They (Shoppers Drug Mart) said they were unable to review the issue further,” Peter Terry said.

“You shouldn’t have to go to the LCBO and make these calls. I think Shoppers should reimburse you your money because you paid for it there,” Elaine Terry added.

Gift card fraud can take different forms, but generally criminals go to a store, copy the card number and bar activation code and then reseal the package. They may also place fake bar code stickers on the cards - when the card is activated, money that’s added then goes to the scammer instead of the gift card holder.

Consumer Reports Programs Director Chuck Bell told CTV News in an earlier gift card scam report that it’s always important to inspect gift card packaging carefully.

“You want to avoid gift cards that have been tampered with, and one way to do that is to look for ones that have more secure packaging. or are perhaps behind the counter,” he said at the time.

Bell said another way to avoid fraud is to buy virtual or digital gift cards.

“In some ways that can be a lot safer than taking the risk of a card that could have been tampered with,” he said.

When CTV News reached out to Shoppers Drug Mart - its parent company Loblaw said that its “teams are trained to recognize tampering and other fraudulent situations involving gift cards, doing their best to intercept suspicious transactions before purchase. That said, we understand this is a frustrating experience for customers.”

Loblaw ultimately made it right with the Terrys, refunding them the $100 purchase price.

“It’s a major relief to have this dealt with,” Elaine Terry said.