Gift card fraud affects digital and physical gift cards alike. While fraudsters may approach gift card fraud with a variety of scams, the goal is to steal the funds from the cards while remaining undetected. Most likely, you’ve probably bought and/or received at least one gift card this year. Whether it was for a birthday, holiday, special event or “just because,” gift cards are the most wanted – and the most popular gift in the U.S. for nearly any occasion. Retailers and consumers have felt an increase in gift card scams, with victims reporting over $148 million stolen in the first nine months of 2021, more than all of 2020. Gift card fraud is on the rise, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns it’s a popular method for scammers to steal money. Let’s look at some ways that fraudsters use scams to commit theft.