Tausi Insider

Photo : Prostock-studio ( Shutterstock ) Clothes and electronics aren’t the only items marked down on Black Friday: A number of restaurants have also announced a range of deals (some of which include free food) on their meals, snacks, and gift cards. In addition to the grub sold in restaurants, fast food chains, and other eateries, there are also discounts galore on food and food-related products both in stores and online—in fact, they are so plentiful that they belong on their own list (which probably exists somewhere). A s always, this isn’t an exhaustive list of every restaurant offer available on Black Friday—just a few of many. Enjoy! Applebee’s From now through December 31, 2022, when you buy a $50 gift card, you will receive a bonus $10 gift card . G/O Media may get a commission California Pizza Kitchen Purchase $100 in CPK gift cards between now and December 31, 2022 and get a bonus $20 promotional gift card . Einstein Bros. Bagels Buy $30 worth of gift cards and get a...

Photo : Sheila Fitzgerald ( Shutterstock ) We are in peak gift-card-buying season as the holidays rapidly approach—which means that scammers are also in their peak season of trying to trick us into buying gift cards that those on our list won’t actually be able to use. We’ve previously covered how scammers pretend to be from the IRS or other   figures of authority to get you to pay for things with gift cards . But time only makes scammers more sophisticated and creative, so here are the new gift-card scams to watch out for. How to spot tampered gift cards in a store Unbought g ift cards have been tampered with for years, but it’s usually the old trick where scammers take a gift card, find the PIN information, and then put it back on the shelves where it waits for a victim to buy it and put money o n it. They do this by periodically calling the number o n the back of the card to see if there’s a balance, and then draining it as soon as there is. But now, scammers are pri...

Photo : Michael Vi ( Shutterstock ) Venmo is an easy way to send money back and forth to friends, family, and the guy who runs the office fantasy football league. But what if you received a Venmo notification that says you’d received money from someone you don’t know and that you weren’t expecting? Chances are, it’s not an accident or a stroke of luck: It’s a scam. The practice of sending money by “accident” —and then asking for it back in apologetic and somewhat frantic tones — is a scam that has been making the rounds not just on Venmo, but other similar pay-apps like Zelle, PayPal, or Apple Pay. It’s a scam that preys on people’s kindness and gullibility. How does the scam of sending money by “accident” work? According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), scammers buy stolen credit cards from the dark web and connect them to their payment app of choice. Then, they start sending random people money by “accident” and proceed to message them asking for the money back, ...

Photo : Jukov studio ( Shutterstock ) It’s less than a week before Christmas, which marks the official start of “Amazon and Starbucks gift card” season. There’s nothing wrong with gift cards per se, but these two in particular are so commonly gifted that they practically scream “I panicked and got this at the last minute”—which is exactly what you don’t want in a last-minute gift. On top of being predictable, Amazon and Starbucks have spent most of 2022 engaging in blatant union-busting, which is a great reason to not give them your money. For this exact reason, unionized Starbucks workers are asking customers to skip the gift cards this year: In a Dec. 16 press release from Starbucks Workers United , partner Nabretta Hardin pointed out that “Each year, [Starbucks] makes over a hundred million dollars from gift cards that are never even used by customers.” That’s free money for Starbucks to spend on whatever they like, and by now, it’s obvious that they really like union-busti...

Photo : Miguel Lagoa ( Shutterstock ) Right now, Costco is selling Xbox gift cards for 20% off, and you can get a maximum of $400 worth of them per member (or more if you have other authorized members o n your membership). That means you can get $400 worth of gift cards for a total out- of- pocket cost of $320, which you can use for anything from the Microsoft store online , including Windows laptops, Xbox game consoles, games, and game passes. How to get $400 of Xbox gift cards for $320 From now through Jan. 1 , Costco is selling $100 Xbox gift cards and four-packs of $25 both as digital downloads for $80 each. There’s a limit of two items per member, and you need to l og in t o view the full deal . The gift cards are available “ while supplies last,” which seems like odd phrasing for a digital gift card, but y our Costco might also carry them in store. Non-members are able to purchase the $25 four-pack gift cards online for an extra 5% surcharge, which works out to...