BBB Tip of the Week: Gift Card Fraud

Every year consumers load billions of dollars on gift cards. Once activated, gift cards are like cash, making them tempting for thieves. In fact, gift cards can be stolen before they are even purchased.

Thieves do this by stealing inactivated gift cards and writing down the card number or cloning the card’s magnetic strip. Then they return the cards to the store and wait for the card to be activated, all the while checking online. Once activated, the thief immediately uses the card online or in the store to purchase goods or other gift cards.

For cards with a PIN, thieves may remove the sticker or scratch-off coating to retrieve the PIN. After this, they may or may not replace the coating with a new sticker before returning the card to the store.

In another twist, thieves may affix stickers with the activation barcodes of cards they have stolen over the real barcodes of cards in the store, as a way to activate the stolen cards.

Better Business Bureau shares the following tips to help you avoid and handle this type of gift card fraud, should it happen to you:

Don’t purchase gift cards if the packaging is damaged or the card’s adhesive is lose, which could be a sign of tampering.

In some cases, before you purchase and activate a gift card, you can check to see if the protective coating or sticker that covers the gift card’s PIN has been removed. If it has, do not purchase the gift card and let a store employee know.

If the gift card’s activation barcode is on a sticker that has been affixed to the packaging, don’t purchase.

When a gift card’s balance isn’t what it should be, call the card issuer immediately. This gives you a better chance of getting your money back. Also by alerting the card issuer, you may help prevent the fraudsters from draining others’ cards.

When giving a gift card to a friend or family member, include the receipt showing the activation. This information may help recover the funds if they’ve been stolen.

If you purchase gift cards from resellers on online marketplaces such as eBay or Gift Card Rescue, read through reviews to see previous buyers’ experiences. Don’t purchase from resellers with negative reviews.

For more tips you can trust, visit BBB at www.bbb.org/eastern-washington/ or call (509) 455-4200.