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Did someone tell you to buy a gift card to pay a fine or bill? Stop. It’s a scam. No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them. Here’s how to spot and avoid gift card scams.

Gift card scams start with a call, text, email, or social media message. The person contacting you is, they say, from the government or a company you know. (They’re not.) They say to pay right away or something terrible will happen. (It won’t.)

Scammers rush you because they don’t want you to have time to think about what they say or talk to someone you trust. The scammer will tell you which gift cards to buy and where to buy them. Sometimes, they’ll stay on the phone with you while you go to the store and load money onto the card. They want you to think they’re helping you. (They’re not.) Once you add money to the card and give scammers the gift card number, your money is gone. If you get a call like this, hang up the phone. 

If you bought a gift card and gave someone the numbers off the back of the card:

  • Report the gift card scam to the gift card company right away. No matter how long ago the scam happened, report it. Use the How To Contact Gift Card Companies list to report it. It helps to have the gift card and store receipt handy, if possible.
  • Ask for your money back. Some companies are helping stop gift card scams and might give your money back. It’s worth asking.
  • Tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Your report makes a difference and helps protect your community from fraud and scams.  
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Gift Card Scam

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The purpose of this blog and its comments section is to inform readers about Federal Trade Commission activity, and share information to help them avoid, report, and recover from fraud, scams, and bad business practices. Your thoughts, ideas, and concerns are welcome, and we encourage comments. But keep in mind, this is a moderated blog. We review all comments before they are posted, and we won’t post comments that don’t comply with our commenting policy. We expect commenters to treat each other and the blog writers with respect.

  • We won’t post off-topic comments, repeated identical comments, or comments that include sales pitches or promotions.
  • We won’t post comments that include vulgar messages, personal attacks by name, or offensive terms that target specific people or groups.
  • We won’t post threats, defamatory statements, or suggestions or encouragement of illegal activity.
  • We won’t post comments that include personal information, like Social Security numbers, account numbers, home addresses, and email addresses. To file a detailed report about a scam, go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them. They do not belong to or represent views of the Federal Trade Commission.

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