(8/10) A suspicious gift card with the town of Thurmont’s name on it was found online by Rob Myers from the Thurmont Kountry Kitchen.

Town officials had no idea about the card, and it was deemed a potential scam, according to Economic development Manager Vickie Grinder.

"So, it is a scam from the perspective that they are using false information to get businesses to participate in their programs," she said.

If something feels wrong or suspicious, everyone is encouraged to reach out to the town office to voice concerns.

"We will always contact you via email if we are working with an outside party for any type of programming regardless of what it is and provide you with the company name and contact. It may be legit, and some businesses may accept them, but they are not associated with the town," Grinder said.

Unfortunately, businesses are targets of this type of marketing for unethical companies to make a sale based on the perception the town is sponsoring whatever product they are pushing.

Scammers can credit a gift card that says the Town of Thurmont and misrepresent themselves using fraudulent tactics to entice participation.

The gift cards in some incidents are real and charge a seven to ten percent purchase fee. In some cases, they are not and ask for bank account and routing numbers.

Another prime example of misrepresentation is every year after the Frederick News-Post top business contests, companies will email them information of a "Best of the Best" plaque and lead businesses to believe the town is sponsoring it.

Fortunately, businesses on the town’s email update list receive the fraudulent company for whatever the product is they are pushing, and over 200 emails receive this information.

"Our business community does an unbelievable job of letting me know when they receive these fraudulent emails, and they are shared with our Thurmont business email list. The other good news is that after so many of these deceitful schemes, the Thurmont business community knows that if the Town is working with any outside agency for any type of marketing, we always alert them prior to the outside agency contacting them," she said.

Thurmont is however currently reviewing an online gift card program called Yiftee, she said.

Several smaller towns in Frederick, Carroll, and Washington Counties are using this program and feedback was solicited from them before contacting Yiftee. All have had success with the program.

Utilizing Yiftee would be just like the Thurmont Bucks, and the gift card program would have that same branding. Those that will want to participate will be in the online directory and when purchased, can be used at any participating business. Anyone with a credit card machine or a POS system, will be able to accept Yiftee.

If Thurmont officially decides to move forward with this program, residents will be contacted and can let officials know if they want to participate, Grinder said.