If you received gift cards over the holidays, don’t throw them in a drawer and forget about them. While many gift card scams involve thieves demanding payments—for everything from taxes and fines owed to outstanding utility bills—via prepaid cards, there’s a less obvious type of fraud known as gift card draining.
How gift card draining scams work
If you forget how much money is on a gift card you received a while ago, you’re likely to check the balance online. You’ll typically need to enter your card number and PIN or security code, but some websites that claim to provide gift card balances are actually collecting that information to use it later. Always use the official site listed on the back of your card, or better yet, call or visit the retailer directly to confirm the balance.
In another version of this scam, fraudsters have set up sites offering to pay you for gift cards you don’t want or won’t use. They may claim to purchase your $100 card for $90—which sounds better than no money at all—but are simply out to steal the card information and drain the funds, and you’ll never actually see that cash. Sites promoting that type of deal are typically not legitimate.
When you purchase or receive a gift card, keep the receipt, note the starting balance, and register it with the retailer or transfer the funds from the gift card to your existing account if those options are available. If possible, change the PIN, and spend the funds sooner rather than later.
Gift card scams begin in the store
If you’re considering buying physical gift cards in the future, be sure to check for signs of a scam. Fraudsters will tamper with cards in stores by adding stickers over the barcode, so when you check out, the funds you pay go to their account rather than the card itself, which means the balance will be zero when the recipient goes to spend it. Scammers can also record the card number and activation PIN or security code, then reseal the packaging and replace the card on the rack—once the card is paid for or activated, they use the information to spend the funds.
What do you think so far?
Inspect gift cards purchased in-store carefully for added stickers, damage to the packaging, or scratch-off coating that has been removed. You can avoid some risk by purchasing gift cards online directly from the merchant’s website (as gift cards sold at steep discounts on social media or deal sites are often scams).
And if you do end up with a scam card, you can file a report with the gift card issuer, though your mileage may vary in terms of recovering funds. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a list of fraud contacts for some of the most popular card retailers, including American Express, Visa, and Amazon.
