Do you need to learn how to buy a Google Play Gift Card with Bitcoin? The actual transaction itself is fairly simple–locate a vendor that accepts Bitcoin, choose whether to send the gift card to yourself or to someone else, determine the dollar value of the card, and proceed to checkout. Retail sites like eGifter allow you to shop as a guest or to set up an account (it’s best to create an account if you’re going to be doing such transactions frequently) and then proceed to the payment gateway.
How to Buy Google Play Gift Cards With Bitcoin
In the case of eGifter, you have the options of paying with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Skrill, and others. On eGifter when you choose Bitcoin as your payment, you’re taken to a confirmation screen requesting your contact information but also giving you the option of paying via BitPay or NetCents.
All of this is fairly entry-level, blogger 101 information. What you REALLY need to know is that when you conduct transactions with Bitcoin, some opportunities to pay via cryptocurrency in this way could be scams. You definitely want to do your homework and research any unknown-to-you third party entity selling gift cards of any kind in exchange for Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.
Why?
Gift Cards Are Used In Scams
The use of gift cards as a cash out method has the full attention of the Federal Trade Commission as a growing problem; the FTC has data indicating that in 2015, some 7% of scam victims reported losing money via gift cards. The purchase method is irrelevant–the main takeaway here is that scammers LOVE gift cards. How much? By the end of 2018, FTC data indicates that approximately one fourth of scams used gift cards as a cash out mechanism.
So you’re going to need to do two things–one is to evaluate your need to purchase a Google Play gift card with Bitcoin. Why do you need to make this purchase in this way? Because you want to? Or because a third party has asked you to do so? And if that third party has asked you to do so, why?
Gift Card Scams To Avoid
The FTC warns, “Someone might call you and claim to be from the IRS, collecting back taxes or fines. The caller might say he’s from tech support, asking for money to fix your computer. The caller might even say she’s a family member with an emergency and needs money right now. But they all have in common an urgent need for you to send money right away.”
In these cases you should NEVER purchase a Google Play gift card with Bitcoin. The FTC official site warns of the following scams associated with gift card purchases regardless of whether the cards are purchased with cryptocurrency or not:
- Those calling, texting, or otherwise contacting you pretending to be from a utility company, telling you to pay your bill by gift card or they’ll shut off your utilities, have you arrested, or some other dire consequence;
- Sellers on online auction sites who ask for gift cards to “buy” big items like cars, motorcycles, boats, RVs, tractors and electronics
- Servicemember scams designed to make you feel sorry for a military member who claims they have to sell something quickly before deployment and needs you to pay by gift card;
- Anyone who contacts you claiming you have won a prize or sweepstakes you probably never entered – but first, you have to use a gift card to pay fees or other charges;
- Customers who pretend to be buying something from you sending a check for more than the purchase price. These scammers will ask you to give them the difference on a gift card. The check will bounce.
Joe Wallace is a writer and editor from Illinois. He was an editor and producer for Air Force Television News for 13 years, and has served as Managing Editor for publications including Gearwire.com, and Associate Editor for FHANewsBlog.com. He is also an experienced book and script editor specializing in non-fiction and documentary filmmaking
