AARP Hearing Center
Read This Before Buying Another Gift Card
Many criminals like to be paid in gift cards; others steal the value of cards from stores. Here’s what to know to avoid fraud
Photo Illustration: Matt Chase
About Gift Card Scams
How they work
- Scammers ask victims to pay for fees or items (depending on the scam) with gift cards
- Criminals steal gift cards from racks, drain their value, and return them to the store for sale
How to Protect Yourself
- Use gift cards only as gifts, not to pay a business, government agency or stranger.
- Inspect the packaging and confirm the card’s value before leaving the store.
Get Help
- Report the theft to local law enforcement and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360 for support and guidance.
Buying gift cards makes shopping easy. Unfortunately, scammers like them, too, because the cards work like cash: “Once the money is gone, it’s gone,” says Melanie McGovern, director of public relations at the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.
And it’s easy for scammers to instruct their victims to purchase gift cards. Unlike cryptocurrency — another payment form favored by criminals — most people know how to use them.
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Another related crime is gift card tampering: Criminals will steal gift cards from stores, record the account numbers and PINs, reseal the cards and return them to the racks. When customers purchase and try to use them, they discover that the value’s been drained.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), at least $233 million was stolen through gift card-related scams in 2025, based on more than 35,000 reports to the agency. (The actual losses are likely far higher than the official numbers indicate, since many victims don’t report these crimes.)
How gift card scams work
Gift cards are drained. Criminals steal the value on cards after taking them from unattended store racks. When customers buy a card that’s been tampered with, the money is gone. The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center recently arrested four people suspected of perpetrating a wide-ranging scheme to drain gift cards at Walgreens, Dollar Tree and other stores in Texas and Arkansas. Investigators found “hundreds of tampered gift cards representing more than $100,000 in potential losses from a single day of activity.”
Gift cards are requested as payment in scams. Whether pretending to be a seller online or an official notifying you of a supposed debt, scammers will ask you to buy gift cards and read them the serial and personal identification numbers (PIN) on the back of the cards.
Criminals tend to favor gift cards from major retailers such as Apple, Target, eBay, Walmart, and Amazon. They may tell you to go to a specific store to buy the cards or, if they want multiple cards, to several stores “so cashiers won’t get suspicious,” according to the FTC.
They are also likely to suggest that payment is urgent, so you don’t have a chance to think rationally or tell someone else who may stop you.
How AARP is fighting gift card fraud
As gift card fraud has grown, so has state legislative action to protect consumers. AARP has supported state efforts to make gift cards harder for criminals to tamper with, strengthen protections at the point of sale and hold offenders accountable. Those efforts have included safeguards for gift card packaging and display, warning signs at the point of sale, training for store employees to recognize potential scams and intervene when appropriate, retailer practices to detect or prevent tampering, and stronger criminal penalties.
Six states enacted AARP-backed gift card fraud protections this year alone, part of a larger wave of legislative action in states over the past two years. Find out more about AARP’s work to protect older adults from scams and fraud.
A few examples of the many scams where perpetrators may ask for payment in gift cards:
Government impostor scams. Scammers may pretend to be from the IRS, for example, and say you owe money that can be paid with a gift card. This is a scam, says the FTC. “No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them.”
Tech support scams. You may receive a pop-up ad or an email from scammers pretending to be from a tech company, warning that a virus has infected your computer or that a security service on your computer is about to expire. They’ll ask you to pay for their assistance with gift cards.
"Do me a favor" scams. A boss or colleague asks you to do them a favor and buy gift cards for clients or to get them out of a jam. Just read the numbers on the back of the cards to them after you purchase the cards. They’ll reimburse you later.
Romance scams. A romantic partner you’ve bonded with online, but never met in person, may suddenly seek a loan for a supposed crisis.
Online shopping scams.. An online vendor may ask for payment in gift cards. Criminals also lurk on resale and auction websites, ostensibly offering goods at an attractive discount. They may also create fake shopping websites imitating a known retailer. Once they get you interested in buying, they’ll ask you to pay with a gift card. As soon as they get the card number and PIN, they vanish, and so does the money on the card.
Lottery scams. A phony representative from a sweepstakes tells you you’ve won big, but you need to pay taxes and fees.
How to protect yourself from these scams
Don’t pay for anything with gift cards. Jennifer Pitt, a senior fraud and security analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, which advises clients in the financial services industry, suggests offering a different payment method if someone asks for payment via gift card, “Something like a credit card … that can easily be tracked or refunded. If they say, No, it’s a scam.” Only use gift cards for gifts.
Never give gift card information to a stranger. If they insist upon it, they are almost surely a scammer.
To avoid buying a card with no value:
Mind where you buy. When buying cards, purchase them directly from the issuing business. If you buy online, “Don’t purchase it from a company that says ‘we specialize in digital gift cards.’ … Right now, it’s too hard to tell which ones aren’t legitimate,” says Pitt.
Double-check the value. It’s always a good idea to check that the funds are there before leaving the store, says Melanie McGovern, director of public relations at the International Association of Better Business Bureaus. And if you are buying several gift cards during the holiday season, “Make sure each and every one is scanned at the register,” says McGovern.
Look for tampering. Note for signs that the gift card package has been tampered with, “such as cuts, tears, unusual marks, loose stickers, or extra layers on the packaging,” the Retail Industry Leaders Association advises.
Keep the receipt. Hang on to the receipt as documentation. It might help if something goes wrong.
Protect your personal information. Be cautious not to share your bank account numbers or Social Security numbers with anyone in exchange for a gift card.
How to report problems
Immediately contact the retailer that issued the gift card you used to pay a suspected scammer. If money remains on the card, you might be able to get it back. You often will find contact information on the card.
Report the theft to local law enforcement, as well as the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. The more information authorities have, the better they can identify patterns, link cases and ultimately catch the criminals.
Call the free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline (877-908-3360) to speak with trained specialists who can provide support and guidance on what to do next and how to avoid scams in the future. The AARP Fraud Watch Network also offers online group support sessions for individuals who have been victims of a scam.
This story, originally published in 2021, has been updated with advice from experts and new statistics.
The “About Gift Card Scams” section at the top of the story was created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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