Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity thanked the Abington Township and West Manchester Township police departments for their efforts in reporting 53 gift cards—a combination of Target, Visa, and MasterCards—as unclaimed property.
According to a statement released today, the reporting followed two separate investigations involving gift cards that were likely purchased with fraudulently obtained credit cards. Those investigations led to three arrests.
According to Garrity, similar scams typically involve actors obtaining compromised credit card numbers and using them to purchase gift cards as a way to “wash” the funds.
Because the cards were reported to the Treasury with no information regarding the rightful owners, $21,662.42 in unclaimed property gift cards are being donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central PA, Special Olympics Pennsylvania, and Veterans Multi-Service Center in the following amounts:
- Ronald McDonald House of Central PA: $7,281.48
- Special Olympics Pennsylvania: $7,200.00
- Veterans Multi-Service Center: $7,180.94
During a press conference held at Ronald McDonald House in Hershey, Karla Mitchell, Executive Director of Ronald McDonald House of Central PA, and Josh Burke, Regional Executive Director of Special Olympics Capital Area Region, accepted the gift cards. Because the Veterans Multi-Service Center was unable to join the press conference, their gift cards will be delivered separately.
“I want to thank the Abington Township and West Manchester Township police departments for the great work they did investigating these crimes, and for reporting the gift cards to Treasury as required by state law,” Garrity said. “We hosted a webinar for police departments earlier this year as part of our ongoing outreach efforts to ensure that all holders of unclaimed property understand their responsibility to turn it over to Treasury at the appropriate time.”
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