"I paid, got a code… and it was fake"
UK consumer Facebook groups warn that counterfeit or "cloned" gift vouchers circulate widely in UK via ads and social posts, often impersonated as major retailers. Recent alerts highlight bogus supermarket vouchers spreading via email, WhatsApp and X designed to harvest money and data (AbilityNet, Jan 2024).
"The marketplace link looked real"
In Poland, police and CERT reports describe a now-common playbook on classifieds and resale platforms: a "buyer" sends a courier or payment link that perfectly mimics a well-known brand (InPost, DPD, OLX). One seller in Giżycko lost nearly 10,000 PLN after entering card details on a spoofed page. National statistics shows, in 2024 was "record" for cyber incidents with fishing and fake listing pages as a dominant vector (Komenda Powiatowa Policji w Giżycku, April 2024).
"Empty box, wrong item, or nothing at all"
32% of buyers reported being scammed over two years. More than half of them said they'd been hit. Sellers aren't spared - 22% reported scams.
"Boss asked me to buy gift card - turned out it wasn't my boss"
Gift coupons and gift cards remain a scammer's favorite because they're liquid and hard to reverse. A recent Financial Times case showed a new starter pushed to buy £ 2,000 in Apple gift cards by a fake "CEO." UK Finance reports £ 1,17 bn stolen via payment fraud in 2024 with online channels driving the majority of authorized fraud (Financial Times, Sep 2025).
"I thought I was helping a friend with a present"
Web page "Which?" and "ActionFraud" described impersonation scams where criminals pose as friends or relatives asking for gift cards - once codes are read out, the value is gone. The numbers are stark: in UK over £ 1,17 bn stolen via payment fraud in 2024, online channels account for ~ 70% of authorized fraud. And up to 57% of users reported of being scammed. In Poland, CERT recorded 100K+ incidents in 2024 (≈ 95% classified as computer fraud) with fishing and fake logistics or payment web pages tied to classifieds platforms. Real people lose real money to "too-good-to-be-true" gift voucher, gift cards or coupons deals, spoofed courier checkouts, and professional-looking buyer messages. Ad and marketplace ecosystems where identities are fluid and off-platform payments are nudged remain fertile ground for counterfeit and artificially generated voucher codes.
Conclusion
If you're buying or trading your unused or unwanted gift voucher, gift card or gift coupon, verify off platform links independently, refuse courier payment pages sent in chat, never read gift card codes to anyone and treat "urgent" requests especially involving gift vouchers as high risk. The stories above aren't edge cases anymore; they're becoming the rule.
<h2><strong>"I paid, got a code… and it was fake"</strong></h2><p class="my-4">UK consumer Facebook groups warn that counterfeit or "cloned" gift vouchers circulate widely in UK via ads and social posts, often impersonated as major retailers. Recent alerts highlight bogus supermarket vouchers spreading via email, WhatsApp and X designed to harvest money and data (AbilityNet, Jan 2024).</p><p class="my-4"><strong>"The marketplace link looked real"</strong></p><p class="my-4">In Poland, police and CERT reports describe a now-common playbook on classifieds and resale platforms: a "buyer" sends a courier or payment link that perfectly mimics a well-known brand (InPost, DPD, OLX). One seller in Giżycko lost nearly 10,000 PLN after entering card details on a spoofed page. National statistics shows, in 2024 was "record" for cyber incidents with fishing and fake listing pages as a dominant vector (Komenda Powiatowa Policji w Giżycku, April 2024).</p><p class="my-4"><strong>"Empty box, wrong item, or nothing at all"</strong></p><p class="my-4">32% of buyers reported being scammed over two years. More than half of them said they'd been hit. Sellers aren't spared - 22% reported scams.</p><p class="my-4"><strong>"Boss asked me to buy gift card - turned out it wasn't my boss"</strong></p><p class="my-4">Gift coupons and gift cards remain a scammer's favorite because they're liquid and hard to reverse. A recent Financial Times case showed a new starter pushed to buy £ 2,000 in Apple gift cards by a fake "CEO." UK Finance reports £ 1,17 bn stolen via payment fraud in 2024 with online channels driving the majority of authorized fraud (Financial Times, Sep 2025).</p><p class="my-4"><strong>"I thought I was helping a friend with a present"</strong></p><p class="my-4">Web page "Which?" and "ActionFraud" described impersonation scams where criminals pose as friends or relatives asking for gift cards - once codes are read out, the value is gone. The numbers are stark: in UK over £ 1,17 bn stolen via payment fraud in 2024, online channels account for ~ 70% of authorized fraud. And up to 57% of users reported of being scammed. In Poland, CERT recorded 100K+ incidents in 2024 (≈ 95% classified as computer fraud) with fishing and fake logistics or payment web pages tied to classifieds platforms. Real people lose real money to "too-good-to-be-true" gift voucher, gift cards or coupons deals, spoofed courier checkouts, and professional-looking buyer messages. Ad and marketplace ecosystems where identities are fluid and off-platform payments are nudged remain fertile ground for counterfeit and artificially generated voucher codes.</p><h2><strong>Conclusion</strong></h2><p class="my-4">If you're buying or trading your unused or unwanted gift voucher, gift card or gift coupon, verify off platform links independently, refuse courier payment pages sent in chat, never read gift card codes to anyone and treat "urgent" requests especially involving gift vouchers as high risk. The stories above aren't edge cases anymore; they're becoming the rule.</p>
