$212m on gift cards, and the reason that number is small
US consumers reported losing $212 million on gift or reload cards across 41,120 reports in 2024 — the sixth-largest payment method by losses, well behind bank transfers at $2.09 billion. The gap is the point: gift cards are used for the scams that take hundreds, and they are the method most likely to go unreported entirely.
- Year
- 2024
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Reported loss
- $212.0 million
- Victims
- 41,120
- Schemes
- Gift card draining, Government impersonation, Utility shut-off scams, Fake tech support
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- US consumers filed 41,120 fraud reports in 2024 in which the payment method was a gift card or reload card, with $212 million in reported losses.
- That places gift cards sixth by losses among payment methods, behind bank transfers ($2.089bn), cryptocurrency ($1.417bn), payment apps ($391m), cash ($308m) and wire transfers ($287m).
- By report count gift cards rank sixth as well, behind credit cards (108,881), payment apps (90,571), debit cards (76,285), bank transfers (47,336) and cryptocurrency (46,899).
- The average reported loss per gift card report was about $5,156, against about $44,000 for bank transfers.
- These figures count victim-assisted fraud — cards bought and codes read out under instruction — and not card draining, which the FTC does not break out.
- The FTC states in its Data Book that the vast majority of frauds are never reported.
Why this case matters
$212 million sounds like the measure of the gift card problem. It is not, for two reasons — and both are more interesting than the number.
Reason one: gift cards are the small-loss rail
| Payment method, 2024 | Reports | Reported losses |
|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer or payment | 47,336 | $2,089,000,000 |
| Cryptocurrency | 46,899 | $1,417,000,000 |
| Payment app or service | 90,571 | $391,000,000 |
| Cash | 13,609 | $308,000,000 |
| Wire transfer | 40,448 | $287,000,000 |
| Gift card or reload card | 41,120 | $212,000,000 |
| Credit cards | 108,881 | $275,000,000 |
Gift cards produced roughly $5,156 per report. Bank transfers produced roughly $44,000.
That is not because gift cards are safer. It is because they are the rail for the scams that take hundreds rather than the ones that take a life’s savings — utility shut-off calls, small tech support refunds, prize fees. When an operation wants a retirement account, it uses a transfer, a wire, or a crypto kiosk.
Reason two: it counts the wrong thing for this page
Every figure above is victim-assisted fraud: somebody was persuaded to buy cards and read out the codes. That is a payment method, and it appears across a dozen schemes on this site.
Card draining is not in here at all. A person who buys a tampered card from a shelf has not been contacted by anyone, has not been deceived by anyone, and frequently does not know the money is gone until the recipient of the gift tries to spend it. They are as likely to blame the retailer as to file a fraud report, and many file nothing.
The FTC does not break draining out, and nobody else publishes a US figure for it. HSI puts global gift card fraud losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars, which is the most precise public estimate available and is not a measurement.
What to take from it
Use the $212 million as what it is: the reported cost of gift cards being used as a payment instruction in other scams.
For draining, this site has no number, and neither does anyone else. Saying so is more useful than borrowing a figure that measures something adjacent.
Sources
- Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024. US Federal Trade Commission. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: All payment-method report counts and loss totals for 2024, and the under-reporting statement.
- Tackling the Rise in Gift Card Fraud. US Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The distinction between victim-assisted gift card fraud and card draining, which the FTC's payment-method figures do not separate.