Credit Cards: Buying Gift Cards With Stolen

: Some criminals take physical cards from retail racks, remove the preprinted numbers, and emboss them with stolen credit card information. They then damage the magnetic stripe so a cashier must manually "key in" the transaction, effectively using the stolen credit card as if it were the gift card.

The scale of this fraud is significant, affecting millions of consumers and leading to massive merchant losses: Using Stolen Credit Cards to Buy Gift Cards - Riskified buying gift cards with stolen credit cards

: Cards are sold on marketplaces or the dark web at a discount (often 60–80% of face value) for cryptocurrency or cash. : Some criminals take physical cards from retail

Criminals use stolen credit card data to purchase gift cards through several specific methods: Criminals use stolen credit card data to purchase

Buying gift cards with stolen credit cards is a major component of modern financial crime, used primarily as a fast, anonymous way to "cash out" stolen credentials. Criminals favor gift cards because they function like untraceable cash once purchased.