The Email Wars

Black Friday ads have bargain hunters in a tizzy this week, but it was a Circuit City, Future and Best Buy hoax that ruffled the most feathers.

A viral email falsely stated that Future Shop and Best Buy are owned by Circuit City (which filed for bankruptcy a few weeks ago) and that gift cards for both stores are no longer valid.

“Subject: Gift Cards, etc. 

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:27:54 -0500 

From:

I wanted to give a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful 

that the cards will not be honored after the holidays.

Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even 

though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the 

contrary, it is referred to as ‘Bankruptcy Planning).”

Future Shop and Best Buy both issued statements that the claims were false and affirmed that the gift certificates are still valid and will “never expire.” They also confirmed they are not owned by Circuit City.

Black Friday ads have received a lot of buzz this year due to the recession. Since money is a sensitive subject for a lot of people this holiday, it’s no surprise an email prank like this one has the power to cause such a stir. What a cruel way to take advantage of emotion.

Don’t panic. Neither store is owned by Circuit City and their gift cards are perfectly fine. It’s just some loser with too much time on his or her hands taking advantage of the Black Friday ads interest, trying to yank your chain. Happy shopping.