#666
Card Tricks
Published:
Oct 31, 2026
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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Retailers spent years cracking down on in-store gift card theft, so the thieves did what any sensible business does when distribution costs rise, and moved online. The new scam is a fake balance-checking website. A shopper searches for the page, enters the card number and PIN, gets an error, tries twice more for good measure, and the balance is gone before they reach the register.
Gift card fraud costs consumers and retailers at least $1b a year, and officials say the spoofed sites are a growing part of it. So far the response has been packaging tweaks, coordination with search engines, and advice to call a toll-free number instead. Valve has gone furthest and is phasing out physical Steam gift cards altogether. For victims, recourse is unclear. Refunds tend to be discretionary, and without the original receipt, it is hard to prove you were not the one who spent the money.
Let’s hope the AI agents that will soon be doing our shopping are a little more skeptical than we are. Otherwise, they will try three times - and the money will be gone.
When it comes to gifts, apparently, it is the thought that counts, which is lucky, because the balance might not.
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Card Tricks
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