Card draining occurs when a thief tampers with a gift card and "drains" the money before the funds are used by the consumer. AARP reported last year that 23% of U.S. consumers had given or ...

And those gift card companies want to give that money back," the FTC said in its blog post. Here are steps, highlighted by the agency, that consumers should take if they suspect they have been conned.

Gift card fraud—which is the manipulation or theft of funds from gift cards before their use—has surged in recent years, with the issue reaching an all-time high last year. Americans lost an ...

A gift card issuer is facing a lawsuit over allegations it failed to make its popular prepaid cards less susceptible to a common scam. The lawsuit, filed last month by San Francisco City Attorney ...

Gift card buyers and users need to be especially vigilant about this type of scam, said Christopher Peltz, cyber security expert with Guidepoint Security. “So far, card draining is the most ...

Gift card and reload card fraud cost $228 million last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. What is being done about this scam? The Retail Gift Card Association and Vanilla Gift tell ...

Gift cards are usually a safe choice for spreading holiday cheer, especially if you buy them at Costco. The wholesale club sells gift card bundles with discounts of 20% or more on the combined ...