Queensbury woman lost $7,000 to gift card scam; His message to others: “Scammers are so good”

She lost $7,000 and doesn’t know if she’ll get it all back.

Melody Randall, from Queensbury, said she thought she was about to make huge savings on her Spectrum bills after they called her with what she thought was a promotional offer.

Turns out it was just a big scam, and the scammers cheated her using gift cards.

Gift card scams are one of the oldest scam tricks in existence. You may be wondering: how did Melody fall into this trap?

You might also do this if you receive this voicemail. It read: “Dear Customer, this voicemail is to inform you that Spectrum is removing the 40% discount offer from your monthly bill. To reactivate this offer now, please call back the number displayed on your caller ID. THANKS!”

“I was very ashamed. I was ashamed because I borrowed money from my family to get these gift cards,” Melody said. “I was the fool.”

Melody said she thought she was about to get a big discount.

She called the person who claimed to be a Spectrum representative. There was one thing that made Melody believe: “He knew the amount I paid every month was $244…that’s what made me think it was real. How would he know that I paid my bill monthly? Because everyone’s cable bill is different.

Melody then learned how to close the deal.

“I should get Target gift cards for $360 each and apply them to your bill for the first 6 months.”

Melody went to see Hannaford and got some gift cards. However, something was wrong.

“I called the number back and gave them the information. He asked me to scratch them and give him the passcode,” she said. “He comes back on the phone and says, ‘They didn’t make it.’ Hannaford had a bad batch of Target gift cards.

Melody ended up receiving a total of 17 Target gift cards! She racked up more than $6,000 on her debit and credit cards.

Ultimately, it was a Hannaford manager who stopped her from purchasing more.

“The manager says, ‘I think you’re being ripped off, and we’re only allowed to sell you a limited number.'”

It doesn’t stop there. Melody said the scammers also hacked into her Spectrum account, obtained her banking information and stole another $1,000.

The whole ordeal left Melody $7,000 in the red.

“I never thought I could get scammed. I never thought this could happen to me, and that’s why I want to do this (interview) because other people might think, “Oh no, I’m not going to get scammed.” You can. You can! They are good. Scammers are so good.

13Investigators contacted Spectrum to ask if credit card scams were common in their case. Spectrum said this and other malicious scams are not specific to any vendor or industry.

Here are some tips from Spectrum to avoid getting scammed:

1. If you are a Spectrum customer, call them at the number listed on your bill statement, not the number the caller gives you.
2. Never give out your account or payment information over the phone. Spectrum will never call you to ask for it. Spectrum also doesn’t accept payments via gift cards, as well as Bitcoin or banking apps, like Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal.
3. If you discover you have been scammed or almost been scammed, contact the police with details of the scam so they are aware of what is happening in your area.

Melody followed tip number three; she filed a report with the New York State Police, she filed a claim with Spectrum, and she filed a fraudulent report with the Federal Trade Commission.

She recovered the stolen $1,000 through her Spectrum account, and state police are investigating the remaining $6,000 from Target gift cards.