What consumers should know about gift card draining

The NBC 5 Responds team continues to hear from North Texans who tell us about vanishing gift card balances.

Tara in Fort Worth recently shared photos of a gift card she says she activated with $500. Before she had a chance to use it, she said the balance was zero. Tara kept the activation receipt for the card and was eventually able to get a refund from the store.

Tara isn’t alone. The NBC and Telemundo Responds teams have heard from dozens of consumers who received or gave gift cards with drained balances. Read on for what police want consumers to know.

‘OPENED OUR EYES’

When Burleson Police posted this photo, announcing it seized thousands of “tampered” gift cards, commenters chimed in with their own experiences finding a zero balance on a gift card.

“Our social media kind of opened our eyes to how often this happens,” said Collin Gregory with the Burleson Police Department.

Burlenson police's case unfolded June 27 when police say license plate readers alerted to a plate entering Burleson.

“We actually received a hit showing that a license plate was traveling through our city that was involved in a nationwide gift card tampering ring,” said Sgt. Brandon Glass with the Burleson Police Department.

Officers wouldn’t have to go far. In a shopping center parking lot across the street from BPD headquarters, police said they watched two men leave a Target store. When officers pulled the car over, they said they found nearly three thousand gift cards.

“There was no explanation on why they had the gift cards,” Sgt. Glass said.

According to Sgt. Glass, surveillance video inside the store showed the men taking new cards off store displays and putting other cards back.

“We're actually able to see they were in the store around the gift card sections and they were taking gift cards off the rack. Then replacing them with other gift cards they were pulling off their person,” Glass said.

In a hotel room in Carrollton, investigators said they seized another 1,800 gift cards in two boxes shipped to the hotel from California.

“It tells us that they're working with somebody. We don't have all the information on that, and that's still being investigated, but it does link it to being, not just solely here in this region,” said Sgt. Glass. “It's taking place all across the nation.”

GIFT CARD ARRESTS

Between news reports and police reports, our NBC Responds teams found at least two dozen other recent cases around the country. They mention people arrested with large numbers of gift cards believed to be compromised, including this December arrest in Sacramento, Calif.

“He fell to the ground and he had gift cards, like a pinata, gift cards just flew out from the inside of his clothing,” Detective Andy Cater with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Office told our NBC Bay Area colleagues.

In April, Plano Police announced it seized more than 4,100 “tampered” gift cards.

“It's not a one-off, it's not just a Plano situation, it is a worldwide situation,” said Plano Police Detective Jerry Minton.

WHAT IS GIFT CARD DRAINING?

This is how police describe gift card draining.

Generally, people take new gift cards off store racks, unseal the gift card package in another location and copy gift card numbers and security codes.

They replace seals and scratch-off stickers and then return to a store to put tampered gift cards back on the shelf. When a consumer buys a compromised card and loads money onto it, crooks, who are monitoring the compromised gift cards, redeem the balance online before the consumer can.

“A lot of times, the cards have been tampered and you just won't know it until you actually try to use it,” said Collin Gregory.

To protect yourself when you shop, BPD said consumers should inspect the gift card package.

“Maybe has some waves in it because, a lot of times, they'll use a heat source to be able to loosen up the glue and then reglue it back on,” Gregory said.

A manipulated package may have small smudges or imperfections.

“Some of the cards that we were looking at that had been tampered with, there were clear indications of some type of glue residue,” said Sgt. Glass.

BPD suggests consumers buy e-gift cards online directly from the retailer or purchase gift cards at stores where they are kept in a locked drawer or case.

“We're not saying don't buy gift cards,” said Gregory. “We are saying when you do go buy, don't just grab something off the shelf, throw it underneath the scanner, pay for it, and walk out without doing your due diligence.”

Keep the activation receipt when you purchase or load funds onto a gift card. If the consumer finds the gift card has no value, the receipt may be the only recourse.

Two suspects, identified by Burleson Police as Shiwei Zhuo and Shichang Lin, were arrested in the Burleson case and face theft and fraud charges. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the men are Chinese nationals who previously encountered border patrol in southern California in 2023.

BPD said it’s not aware of any ties between the suspects in their case and two people Plano Police arrested in April. In the Plano case, Collin County court records online show Xiaohong Zhang and Xiongling Chen pleaded guilty to unlawful use of criminal instrument charges. Each person gets three years of probation and community service.

We didn’t hear back when we contacted Target about the Burleson case.

In a previous NBC 5 Responds story about gift card draining, Target told us, in part, that gift card tampering is an industry-wide issue. It also said it’s actively addressing the problem through a multi-layered approach.

The Federal Trade Commission shares information about avoiding and reporting gift card scams here. The FTC warns consumers should never buy a gift card as a form of payment. Thieves may contact you and try to trick you into purchasing gift cards and providing the card numbers and security codes.

If you receive a gift card and want to check its balance, the BBB says be skeptical of websites that offer to check its balance. Some websites ask for your card’s ID number and PIN or security code, and scammers use the information to drain the money from your card. Instead, go to the actual retailer's website for balance information or call the gift card company listed on the back of the physical card.

NBC 5 Responds is committed to researching your concerns and recovering your money. Our goal is to get you answers and, if possible, solutions and a resolution. Call us at 844-5RESPND (844-573-7763) or fill out our customer complaint form.