If someone—whether posing as a person, a company, or a government agency—asks you to buy a gift card and then read out or photograph the code, it is a scam. There is no ambiguity. The companies that issue these cards and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) state this in plain terms: no legitimate business or agency collects payment this way.
This guide is designed to help you recognize the con before falling victim, to warn older relatives, and to assist anyone who has already handed over a code and needs to know what to do next. It also covers the expiration and balance rules for legitimate gift cards.
- Red flag #1: The request comes with urgency—pay now or face dire consequences.
- Red flag #2: You receive precise instructions on which card to buy, where to buy it, and sometimes to split purchases across stores to avoid suspicion.
- Red flag #3: The caller asks for the number and PIN on the back, or a photo of the card.
Why scammers want gift cards and how they ask for them
Because the code is the money. With the number and PIN from the back of the card, the scammer can redeem the balance even while the physical card is still in your hand, the FTC explains.
The stories vary, but the structure repeats. Google’s Google Play help center describes two common scripts:
- The fake official. Someone calls claiming to be from the tax agency or another authority, says you owe taxes, a fine, or a debt, and that to avoid arrest or seizure you must pay with gift cards.
- The relative in trouble. The scammer impersonates a family member with a problem, or their lawyer, and asks you to pay with cards. They often insist you don’t need to verify with the relative.
Valve, the company behind Steam, adds other pretexts: debts, taxes, fines, or the collection of a supposed prize. The FTC adds fake Microsoft or Apple tech support, romance scams, and the overpayment check scam where you’re asked to return the difference in gift cards.
There are three signals the FTC repeats that apply to any variant:
- Urgency. You must pay now or something terrible will happen.
- Precise instructions. They tell you which card to buy, in which store, and sometimes to buy from multiple stores to avoid suspicion. They may stay on the phone while you go get it.
- Request for the code. They ask for the number and PIN, or a photo of the card.
If you recognize even one of these three, hang up. And if the call comes with the voice of someone you know, remember that voices can now be imitated: a family keyword against AI-cloned voices cuts this script off at the root.
What Apple, Google, Amazon, and Steam say about their own cards
All four agree on the essentials, and that is the argument to end the conversation:
- Apple: on its social engineering and scams page, it asks you never to use Apple Gift Cards to make payments to other people, and warns that scammers use calls that spoof Apple to pressure you and obtain information, money, or gift cards.
- Google: Google Play cards are only for purchases on Google Play. They should never be used to pay taxes, fines, or anything other than Google Play, nor should the code be shared.
- Amazon: in its tips to avoid scams, it says it will never ask you to buy a gift card and that no legitimate sale or transaction requires payment with them.
- Steam: Steam wallet cards can only be redeemed on Steam. If someone asks you to pay them with these cards, you are most likely the target of a scam.
Steam has gone further. In June 2026, on its gift card help page, Valve explained that after years of measures (working with stores, adding visible warnings on cards), scammers have adapted, so it has decided to stop selling physical Steam cards in stores: it will not restock and expects them to sell out before the end of 2026. Cards you already have remain valid, and digital cards linked to Steam accounts remain on sale.
Do legitimate gift cards expire?
It depends on the issuer. Here is what their terms say for Spain:
- Amazon.es: gift cards are valid for 10 years from issuance; after that they expire and lose their value. The expiration date can be checked on your account balance page.
- Google Play: its terms for Spain state that cards have no fees or expiration date. They are valid for residents in Spain over 14; between 14 and 17, with parental or guardian consent.
In neither case can they be redeemed for cash. Google specifies that, unless required by law, they are also not reloadable or refundable, and it repeats this even in its help section on lost or stolen cards.
Already gave the code: what to do now
Act fast, keep the card and receipt, and report it. The balance can vanish in minutes, but there are steps that sometimes work and others that always help:
- If you haven’t given the code yet, don’t. Steam explains that if you bought cards for a scammer but haven’t handed them over, you can take them to the store’s customer service: activated and unredeemed cards can normally be refunded there.
- If you already gave it, notify the issuing company as soon as possible. The FTC recommends contacting them no matter how much time has passed and asking for the money back: some companies cooperate against these scams and may refund it. Google has a form for affected individuals to report the scam.
- Keep evidence. Steam and the FTC ask you to save the card and the purchase receipt. Add screenshots of the messages and the number that called you.
- Report it. Google and Steam refer you to local police. In Spain, the National Police has a virtual complaints office; an online complaint must be signed at a police station within 72 hours or it is invalid.
If the contact began with someone who called to “fix” your computer, also review what to do if you gave access to a fake remote support technician: there the risk is no longer just the card. And if the request came after weeks of conversation with someone you met online, it fits the signs that repeat in romance scams.
My reading is that the gift card is the perfect payment method for a scammer precisely because it is a product designed to be given without questions. Valve’s decision to pull them from stores is the clearest confession a major company has made that printed warnings are not enough. While the others continue selling them in physical stores, the useful defense is a single sentence worth repeating at home, especially to older family members: no one who is legitimately charging you ever asks for the code of a gift card. Never.