Gift Card Tampering / "Card Draining" Scam

We want to inform everyone about an ongoing gift card scam across the nation, especially with the holiday season rapidly approaching. We have been investigating two reports of gift card tampering, also known as “card draining,” involving over 100 Visa Vanilla and Apple gift cards at Giant. However, there have been reports of this all over Bucks and Montgomery counties within November alone.

How it works: The Offender(s) will discreetly take gift cards off the rack in the stores, neatly open or slightly adjust the gift card package to reveal the card numbers and pin-codes, copy this information, and return the gift cards to the racks. When a Victim purchases one of these unknowingly compromised gift cards at the store, activates and adds value to the gift cards, the Offender(s) will use the available funds.

Before you buy: Check all gift card packages for tampering or if it was opened. The Visa Vanilla gift card package does not need much tampering to reveal the secret pin-code, the package does not need to be opened. The Apple gift card package needs to be opened, but this can be done somewhat neatly.

If a gift card is suspected to have been tampered with or opened, do not buy it and bring it to the store manager or service desk.