Darien Woman Purchased $800 Worth Of Gift Cards In Email Scam: Police

DARIEN, CT — A Darien woman purchased $800 worth of gift cards after falling victim to an email scam, according to the Darien Police Department.

On March 15, a Darien police officer met with the woman who reported that earlier in the day, she received an email from a familiar name at her place of work asking that she purchase gift cards related to a work function, police said.

"The email explained to the victim that pictures of the gift cards will be emailed out to their clients so she would not have to mail them out," police said in a news release. "The victim was assured that she would be reimbursed for the purchases afterward."

The email also claimed the sender's phone wasn't working so they would just be communicating via email, police said.

The woman then went to CVS and purchased $400 worth of gift cards, and sent information back to the original sender, police noted.

Later on, the woman was told to go back and purchase $400 more in gift cards, which she did, police said.

"The victim realized that she was possibly being scammed and contacted by phone the person she thought was sending her the email who confirmed they did not send those emails," police said.

The Federal Trade Commission has previously warned the public about similar scams.

If you believe you've been a victim of a fraud scam, you can report it to the FTC.