Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity thanked the Abington and West Manchester township police departments for their efforts in reporting 53 gift cards – a combination of Target, Visa and MasterCard – as unclaimed property.
According to a statement released today, the announcement follows two separate investigations involving gift cards likely purchased with fraudulently obtained credit cards, which resulted in three arrests.
According to Garrity, similar scams typically involve obtaining compromised credit card numbers and using them to purchase gift cards in order to “launder” the funds.
Because the cards were reported to the Department of Revenue without information on the rightful owners, $21,662.42 in unclaimed property gift cards will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central PA, Special Olympics Pennsylvania, and the Veterans Multi-Service Center in the following amounts:
- Ronald McDonald House of Central PA: $7,281.48
- Special Olympics Pennsylvania: $7,200.00
- Veterans Multiservice Center: $7,180.94
Karla Mitchell, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House of Central PA, and Josh Burke, Regional Director of the Special Olympics Capital Area Region, accepted the gift cards during a press conference at the Ronald McDonald House in Hershey. Since the Veterans Multi-Service Center was unable to attend the press conference, the gift cards will be presented separately.
“I want to thank the Abington and West Manchester Township Police Departments for their great work in solving these crimes and for reporting the gift cards to the IRS as required by law,” Garrity said. “We hosted a webinar for police departments earlier this year as part of our ongoing education efforts to ensure that all owners of unclaimed property understand their responsibility to turn it over to the IRS at the appropriate time.”
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