Current Events in September 2023

Christmas stockings and dresser drawers might start to feel a little lonely. Those plastic gift cards we buy as presents could finally be headed to the land of the lost.

Digital gift cards have been bubbling under the chart for a while, but things are now starting to take off. The global digital gift card market is forecast to rake in $724.3 billion by 2028, growing 14.2% a year – pinning much of its hopes on the younger generation who’s all-in on digital.

One of the newest players in the game is Hallmark. Its angle comes in a partnership with Venmo. As such, it isn’t a “gift” in the sense that the recipient will get a gift card from a specific retailer, but rather a way of sending money through a scannable Venmo barcode printed inside a physical Hallmark card.

Hallmark mails that card to an address or the buyer can pick it up at a Hallmark store. With Venmo’s legion of younger consumers, this could give Hallmark an opportunity to gain a new demographic of shoppers it might not have otherwise.

Prezzee – another e-digital card player – has well over 100 brands in its partnership portfolio. Its angle is that it gives consumers a choice of purchasing a “Prezzee Plus” card with a “suggested” retailer – say, Applebees – but the Plus card allows the recipient to change that suggestion to another company like Delta Airlines.

The pluses of digital gift cards

As ConsumerAffairs found out in speaking to retail experts, digital gift cards are a good thing in one way – but could be fraught with problems in another. 

On the good side of the ledger, nearly 50% of all Americans leave about $21 billion a year on unused or lost gift cards. 

“Electronic gift cards offer convenience—they're instantly delivered and easy to send, and there's minimal risk of physical loss or damage,” retail expert Linda Johansen-James, publisher and founder at International Retail Group, told ConsumerAffairs.

“What's more, they're highly accessible, being mobile-friendly. For retailers, they provide a streamlined way to track redemptions, gathering valuable data for marketing, inventory management, and understanding customer behavior."

But, oh, the scams that await

The wait-and-see and possibly bad side is that we could see a spike in phishing scams -- a problem plastic gift cards already carry. 

Dawson Gant, vice president of Store Partnerships at Ecom Authority, gave this example: “If a predator knows a certain demographic is receiving digital gift cards, they could potentially exploit that with fake gift card redemption emails, etc.,” another impersonation trick that Johansen-James said scammers are likely to add to their toolbox.

In those cases, she advises anyone who gets an email from “someone” who says they’re a “friend,” to triple-check the sender's email address before you click on anything. “If you're familiar with the sender, you might even consider giving them a call to confirm their identity.”

Ally Armeson at the Cybercrime Support Network -- the company that recently alerted ConsumerAffairs to the large in-store gift card scam rings -- told us that another angle digital gift card scammers will try is creating fake gift card balance checking websites in hopes that you will land on these fraudulent sites instead of a real site.

"When you enter the gift card number and PIN into the fake website, the scammer takes that information and drains the value of the gift cards," she said.

Want another? "Scammers can also sell unsuspecting consumers completely fake physical or digital gift cards that have no value -- so it's important to make sure you purchase gift cards from official sellers and official websites," she added.

We might miss the touchy, feely aspect

This physical-to-digital conversion may be hard for some to give in to, however. 

Ray Sheehan, founder at Old City Media, who drops a ton of money in gift cards for his clients, thinks that “digital” sort of takes the “gift” out of “gift card.”

“Why? When you think about the gift card. You need to boil it down to its core purpose,” he said. “You are giving them a gift. The gift card is a much more tangible item.” 

The United Auto Workers union strike is targeting facilities that produce critical parts, meaning car and truck production will soon be affected.

Talks over the weekend failed to produce much in the way of results, although the union called the weekend talks with Ford “reasonably productive.”

"Negotiations continue,” a Ford spokesman told Fox Business. “As we have said all along, Ford has bet on the UAW more than any other company. We are committed to reaching an agreement with the UAW that rewards our workers and allows Ford to invest in the future.”

That suggests Ford, at least, hopes to resolve the walkout quickly. Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, says a short strike might have little impact on the new car market. But consumers would quickly feel the effects of a lengthy walkout.

Inventory could quickly drop

“Average new car supply has recently rebounded to approximately 60 days, meaning a two-week strike could cut domestic dealer supply by 25 percent and a one-month strike could halve it,” Brauer told ConsumerAffairs. “This would undoubtedly be reflected in higher prices for U.S. models, along with a related price increase for competitive brands.”

That’s because the Big Three automakers – Ford, GM, and Chrysler – make up 40% of the U.S. new car market. If those cars go up in price, foreign automakers would benefit but might be less inclined to negotiate with buyers if their competition is more expensive.

If new cars are less available and more expensive it could also affect the used car market. During the pandemic, when there was a shortage of new cars and trucks, used car prices surged due to increased demand.

“Unlike the COVID supply chain issues, which impacted all new car production, a UAW strike will only restrict domestic sales, likely leading to a market share shift toward import automakers,” Brauer said. 

“There’s also the economic impact to both the local and national economy, which could be quite substantial due to the automotive industry’s role in U.S. GDP. Given the existing economic challenges facing U.S. consumers, a strike could be the tipping point into a recession.”

Pirelli Tire of Rome, Ga., is recalling about 15,000 Pirelli P ZERO Race TLR bicycle tires sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The tire bead can unseat from the rim and lead to rapid air loss, resulting in loss of control and posing a fall hazard.

The firm has received one report of rapid air loss, resulting in a minor injury.

This recall involves Pirelli P ZERO Race TLR bicycle tires in the size 28-622.

The tires are black and have either yellow, white, red, or gold branding on the sidewalls.

A list of the model names and numbers, tire IDs and production date codes, which are on the sidewalls, may be found here.

The tires, manufactured in Italy, were sold at Competitive Cyclist, Trek and Angry Catfish stores nationwide from March through July 2023 for about $100.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled tires and contact Pirelli to receive a free replacement product or a full refund.

Consumers may contact Pirelli at (800) 622-2390 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, by email at consumer.affairs@pirelli.com or online at https://www.pirelli.com/tires/en-us/learn/tire-recall for more information.

Custom Made Meals of Denver, Colo., is recalling approximately 1,345 pounds of bacon wrapped jalapeno chicken grillers.

The product contains milk, an allergen not declared on the label.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions to date.

The following item, bearing establishment number “M4121A/P-4121A.” inside the USDA mark of inspection, is being recalled:

• Variable weight black plastic trays with clear top film containing “Bacon-Wrapped BBQ Seasoned Chicken Grillers” and a code date of “USE BY 21-SEPT-23” represented on the label.

The recalled product as sold at retail locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas.

What to do

Customers with an allergy or severe sensitivity to milk who purchased the recalled product should not consume it but discard or return it to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at (303) 227-4993 or by email at info@custommademeals.com.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 169,277 model year 2020-2023 Lincoln Aviators, model year 2018-2021 Lincoln Navigators, model year 2022-2023 Ford Transits, and model year 2021 Ford Broncos.

The rearview camera, or 360-degree view camera -- if equipped -- may not display a rearview image when the vehicle is in reverse.

Loss of the rearview camera image can reduce the driver's rear visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Dealers will replace the rearview camera, and update the software and wiring -- as necessary -- free of charge.

Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed October 2, 2023.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at (866) 436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 23S48.

Have you heard about the fake antivirus scam? It’s spreading across the country, a variation of the tried and true tech support scam, and this week it popped up on the ConsumerAffairs-Trend Micro Threat Alert radar.

Trend Micro's research team identified hackers pretending to alert victims to three harmful apps that they needed to remove. They then redirected the victims to a fake security “Protection Center,” directing them to several steps.

Those steps included asking the targets to subscribe to an antivirus protection service. To subscribe, the victims were required to provide credit card and other personal information. Of course, there was nothing wrong with their device to start with.

Jon Clay, vice president of Threat Intelligence at Trend Micro, says nearly all scams have some things in common

“Scammers are regularly using a few tactics when targeting consumers with their attacks,” he told us.

For example, look closely at any email you get that appears to be from a large, well-known company like Amazon.

Scammers will use addresses that are not associated with the brand or business they purport to be from,” Clay said. “If you didn’t ask for the message or offer, be more skeptical of it.  

If when acting on the too-good-to-be-true offer you are asked to provide personal information or financial information, be hesitant and ask yourself if this makes sense.  Most scammers try to get this valuable information from you.”

Clay says consumers should consider installing a cyber security application on their PC or mobile device because they can detect and block many scams.

Here are some other scams that showed up in this week’s Threat Alert:

USPS shipping scam 

• Trend Micro's research team identified a scammer impersonating USPS to inform users that their parcel delivery failed due to incomplete address information and asked victims to fill out personal and credit card information on fake USPS websites. 

• The top five states being targeted are Florida, Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Back to school shopping scam

• Between July 1-Septemeber 11, Trend Micro found 268,219 back-to-school shopping-related scam URLs in the US, which increased by 13.6% compared to the past week.  

• Trend Micro detected a 74.49% increase year over year. 

• The top five states being targeted the most in 2023 are Oregon, Virginia, California, Texas and New York.   

Travel scam 

• Between April 1-September 3, Trend Micro found 2,935 travel-related scam URLs, which increased by 2% compared to past weeks.  

• Trend Micro found 2 fake Airbnb login websites.  

• The top five states being targeted are Oregon, Virginia, Washington, Pennsylvania and Illinois.    

Netflix scam 

• Trend Micro research team identified scammers impersonating Netflix to inform users that their membership will expire soon, then prompt the victim to confirm and extend their membership with personal information.  

• Trend Micro detected 9,956 logs on September 7 alone.    

FedEx phishing 

• Trend Micro research team found scammers impersonating FedEx, asking victims to reschedule their package delivery date and delivery information via a fake FedEx log-in page. 

• Trend Micro detected 895 logs on September 10 alone.