New Gift Card Scam Hitting Calhoun County Businesses

A new type of scam is now targeting the employees of businesses in the Calhoun County area.

The Emmett Township Department of Public Safety says Monday that they had a complaint from a local business about a scam call that hit them; an employee of the business had received a call from someone pretending to be a representative of their corporate office, and said that they needed the employee’s help in an ongoing internal investigation.

The employee was then asked to take cash from the register, buy several gift cards, and forward those gift card numbers; according to police, the caller said that the business' owners is "very familiar with the request to buy the cards as part of the investigation."

The EDPS and their investigators want to warn employers and employees that these calls are a scam, and they say employees should notify their supervisor instead of following through with the commands. They say anyone who asks an employee to purchase gift cards as a form of payment is likely a scammer, and should be treated with suspicion.