Retailers' gift-card changes target fraud
Walmart Inc., along with Target Corp. and Best Buy, have made changes to their gift card policies to help cut down on fraud.
The changes, announced Wednesday by the attorneys general of New York and Pennsylvania, include reducing purchase limits on store-branded gift cards in a single transaction; limiting the dollar amount that can be loaded onto the cards; and prohibiting the redemption of store-branded gift cards for other gift cards, such as those for restaurants or iTunes.
The Federal Trade Commission wrote a blog post last month warning consumers about gift card-related scammers, but retailers can also be victimized.
In September, a federal grand jury indicted eight members of a Michigan gang accused of stealing millions of dollars over three years using counterfeit credit cards to buy large quantities of gift cards at Walmart stores nationwide, including in Northwest Arkansas. The men then re-sold the gift cards in Michigan, according to court records.
Two members of the Free Band Gang hit seven Walmart stores in Benton County on Sept. 11, 2017, using counterfeit credit cards to buy roughly $100,000 in gift cards within six hours, the indictment states.
-- Serenah McKay
Farm Bureau ready to meet in Spa City
The Arkansas Farm Bureau expects more than 1,000 farmers and ranchers to attend its 84th annual convention when it opens Wednesday in Hot Springs.
Ted McKinney, the under-Secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's department of trade and foreign agriculture affairs, will be among the speakers during the three-day meeting at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Other speakers will include Anne L. Idsal, the South Central regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, Randy Veach, president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau and comedian Ed Wiley.
The convention will conclude Friday with the Farm Bureau's annual business session, with voting delegates electing officers and adopting policy positions in advance of the Arkansas General Assembly's regular legislative session that opens in January.
-- Stephen Steed
State index finishes day with 2.84 gain
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed at 412.95 Wednesday, up 2.84.
Eleven stocks rose and four fell.
Dillard's shares rose 3.7 percent, Murphy USA shares rose 2.5 percent and J.B. Hunt shares rose 1.2 percent.
PAM Transportation fell 3.3 percent.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 11/22/2018