If you are ever confused about giving someone a gift, then the best option out there is a gift card. It is a card which is filled with preloaded money. So, you can buy someone a gift card from their favorite company. These are provided by almost all major retailers. Publix Super Markets, Inc. which is generally called Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain, which is headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Let us know ‘Does Publix Sell Visa Gift Cards? ‘.
Does Publix Sell Visa Gift Cards?
It was founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins. Making it almost a hundred years old. It is known for its high-quality products mainly vegetables, freshly baked cookies, and sandwiches. As the supermarket is so old it is spread all over the United States. It has almost 1000 locations, the largest number of them is in Florida.
As they have various in and out outlets one can buy things on the go. Which makes it suitable for buying gift cards as you could find a store nearby all over the United States. Yes, Publix does sell visa gift cards which are available both in-store and online at all locations. It offers gift cards and various denominations, which include a price range of $25 to $100. You can easily find them near the checkout and greeting aisle or just ask from the counter.
How does a gift card work?
Now gift cards or debit cards are prefilled with funds for future use or a certain period. They can be used for paying a portion of the purchase. Just as a precaution to lessen the number of losses included, you can register gift cards online too. Another benefit of a gift card is that just in case it gets lost it can be tracked and the amount could be frozen. There are two types of gift cards open loop and closed loop.
Open-loop: In open-loop gift cards they stand parallel to cash. These cards could be used at any merchant. They are sold by banks such as American Express, Visa, Discover, and MasterCard.
As the company uses this for their advertisement too, the processor’s logo is always there.
Closed-loop: In a closed-loop gift card the debit where it is spent remains inside the loop of its original retailer. These types of gift cards are sold by and marketed by stores which allow the cardholder to purchase something from a specified retailer.
One benefit of this is that it requires zero activation fees. And, the other one is that it won’t include a processor’s logo, which is the logo of the company which manages transactions. These cards are not reloadable which means they have no future use. Also, these gift cards have a specified expiration date.
What are the scams involved?
The main thing here we need to understand is that gift cards are for gifts, not for payments. So, if anyone calls and asks for making a payment with a gift card just know that it is a scam. Below are the various ways in which they take place:
– First, the call would always say it is urgent. The caller would try to frighten you by saying that if you don’t pay right away something bad would happen.
– Second, they would ask you for which gift card to buy. Then they would ask you to put money on your eBay, Google Pay, or Target accounts. If you don’t have any, they would ask you to go to your ATM or your bank and then add money. And while you do this the caller would ask you to stay on the phone.
– Third, the caller would ask for the gift card number and the PIN which easily gives this scammer get hold of the money you added to the card.
There are various ways the caller can convince you to pay with gift cards they might say that they are from the government or someone from the tech support or like there is an emergency and you need to send the money right away or the worst case is that the caller might say that you have just won a prize but first you need to pay some sort of fees, it could also be from any utility company.
What to do if you get scammed?
The best option would be to call the company which issued the card and asks them to freeze the amount right away. Also, if it is online, they can easily track the card, which would further help in the investigation.
Therefore, always buy the gift card from these stores and the retailers whom you trust. Never go for those free or the cheap ones. As in the end, it is your money. Well never forget to keep the receipt, which if you get scammed will help you to find the card.
