Scammers often ask their victims to send money in the form of PCS mastercard refill coupon.
Many of you come to 1sc.org after a request concerning the PCS MasterCard in your Internet search engine. Most of the time, you had never heard of PCS mastercard before.
What is behind that name? And why has it become the preferred tool for scammers to make you sending money to them ?
The PCS mastercard is a payment tool, which looks like a credit card. It also has much in common with a classic credit card as your traditional bank can deliver you. With a PCS mastercard, it is both possible to pay any merchant that accepts credit cards and withdraw money in from the whole affiliated Mastercard network, i.e. almost all ATM machines.
Benefits the crooks have clearly understood
The main difference between a credit card from your bank and a PCS mastercard is that the former is not connected to any bank account and then is completely anonymous. You can buy it in any PCS sales point worldwide without having to provide any identity.
This is already a great advantage for those who want to remain discreet under some barely lawful operations. But this is not the only advantage. PCS mastercards are being credited by PCS refill coupons, also easily available worldwide.
In the manner of a gift card or phone recharge, a PCS card refill coupon is credited with a certain amount. The PCS card is recharged by entering the code on the refill coupon. This is convenient for honest users who have a way to get a payment card with expense limited by the amount credited through those refill coupons. No way to make an overdraft.
But it is also a very interesting aspect for scammers. Indeed, in correspondence with their victims, scammers ask their targets to buy refill coupons and send them the code. In this way, scammers credit their PCS card with money from their victims. This is anonymous and irreversible, it is then impossible for victims to get refunded or find the crooks afterwards
A PCS mastercard can be a great payment tool for honest users, but is also a good tool for scammers to receive money during Internet scams. Our best advice is to run away as soon as a person met on the Internet asks you to send money via PCS card refill coupons.
I’ve just met a man on a dating website. He asked me to open a facebook account. He moved to Greece for business et lost is credit card there. He asked me 500 euros to pay the hotel. He wanted PCS cards only. I sent him 100 euros. Then he told me he had to go to Italy because is aunt is sick and has to undergo surgery. He wanted 500 euros again. I said no
Hello everyone
I have big suspicions for a scam to pcs MasterCard, after a week of meeting (via skype), she asks me to buy a pcs refill of 100 € to fill her fridge two weeks later. Ask me to buy a recharge of 300 pcs then another to finance legal fees for a so-called inheritance, she made spelling mistakes which made me react, it’s a new request of 2500 this time
I am afraid I fell for my scammer, as he played the long game. We were in touch for a long time – phone/video – before he asked me to buy coupons. I bought 1,000 euros the first time – not from the same tabac in France, as they would not sell me that amount, but from two different places. I photographed them for him and he was happy. After about a month, he asked again – as he had a debt he was trying to pay off. By this time, we were talking of ‘being together’. So I did the same again. But when I photographed them over, he came back and said, “I’m so sorry darling, but you have been sold fake coupons – you will have to go back to the shop and explain and they will sort it out”. My heart sank. I knew that was a lie. Two different shops in two different towns!!! I refused and he got cross. I cannot see what he hoped to benefit though. He had the money and I saw the coupons being run off, brand new, and handed to me (with a little lecture about scammers to go with them). I still don’t understand what he had to gain by doing that, because I ended the relationship there and then. A lot of money lost and dreams broken.