How Gift Card Draining Scams Work During The Holidays
Spot tampered packaging and barcodes before you pay so your holiday gift card keeps its value.
Gift-card draining works when thieves copy the number and PIN from a store-rack card before you buy it, then empty the balance right after you activate it. During the holidays, busy racks and slow gift redemption give thieves more tampered cards and more time to spend the money. Gift-card draining means the plastic on the rack looks new but the numbers already belong to criminals.
Holiday buyers and recipients face most of the risk because gifts often sit unopened for days or weeks.
Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on November 02, 2026.
What happens to cards on the store rack?
Thieves take unactivated cards from the rack and write down the card number and scratch-off PIN. According to Homeland Security Investigations, they then reseal the packaging and return the card so it looks untouched Homeland Security Investigations guide to gift card fraud in retail. A second setup swaps what the register scans.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reports that criminals replace or cover the real barcode with a barcode tied to their own card Office of the Comptroller of the Currency holiday scam guidance. The cashier then loads your money onto the criminal's card.
How does buying the card trigger the theft?
The trap springs at checkout. The Federal Trade Commission explains that buying and activating a tampered card puts money onto numbers criminals already hold Federal Trade Commission advice on gift card scams. They can spend or transfer that balance before the giver or recipient tries to use it.
That timing matters. The buyer sees a normal receipt and a sealed gift. The recipient later finds a zero balance and no clear reason.
Why does the risk rise during the holidays?
High-volume gift-card buying puts more tampered cards into shoppers' hands. Delayed holiday redemption also hides the theft until the trail is cold. The FBI warned holiday shoppers on Dec.
11, 2025 to watch for tampered cards with compromised security stickers or altered barcodes FBI San Francisco holiday shopping warning. Federal guidance points to holiday buyers and recipients as the main victims for those reasons.
How can you buy and give cards more safely?
Federal investigators and consumer agencies advise a close look before you pay. Pick a card from the back of the rack and skip any package with tears, wrinkles, glue, mismatched barcodes, or an exposed PIN area. Use a credit card when you can, since it gives you a clearer payment record.
If the balance is missing, call the issuer right away with the receipt in hand.
- Choose cards kept behind the counter or from the back
- Check packaging, barcodes, and PIN covers for tampering
- Keep the receipt and activation slip
- Check the balance only on the phone number or website printed on the card
- Report a drained card at once to the card issuer, ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and IC3