Sorry to hear that. This type of scam is all too common these days. You'd like to see these scumbags put away for decades. But the truth is, many of them are outside the reach of U.S. authorities. And even if they are in the U.S., there is technically nothing illegal about
some of these scams.
My late sister's husband is blowing every dime he has on this gift card crap. His stepson and his sister have all tried to get him to see that this is all a scam, but he won't believe them. And if a person is not officially considered mentally incompetent, there's not a damn thing you can do about it. I give it a year before he loses his home and is destitute. So sad to watch helplessly.
I keep getting phone calls where the caller ID says Aetna Medicare. They have nothing to do with Aetna, yet they somehow get away with using Aetna's name in their scams.