New Florida law takes aim at gift card fraud. Thieves now face this jail time and fine

Scammers come at you in lots of different ways.

Included are fake texts and fraudulent emails, all with convincing stories about why you need to send money right now to cover overdue toll fees or traffic tickets or fines for missing jury duty or IRS payments or utility bills or to help out your boss. AI phone calls might sound like a distant relative who’s been arrested and needs money.

And most of them demand that you buy them gift cards and send them the redemption codes.

Sometimes crooks will go straight to the source, opening gift card packages in the store and copying the numbers manually or with scanners. Then they keep checking the numbers online or at the issuer’s 1-800 number. Once someone has legitimately bought and activated the cards, the scammer can clone them, use the money to shop online, or send the funds to their own cards. The card buyer is left with an empty piece of plastic.

“About one in four who lost money to a fraud say they paid with a gift card,” the Federal Trade Comission said in a December 2020 analysis. “In fact, gift cards have topped the list of reported fraud payment methods every year since 2018. During that time, people reported losing a total of nearly $245 million, with a median individual loss of $840.”

Florida is cracking down on gift card fraud with a brand new crime and penalties starting at a potential jail sentence of up to one year. It went into effect Wednesday, Oct. 1.

What does Florida’s new law against gift card fraud do?

SB 1198: Fraudulent Use of Gift Cards makes it a crime to steal gift cards, alter or tamper with a gift card or its packaging, or attempt to scam someone out of their gift cards.

Violation is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by not more than one year in a county jail and a fine not exceeding $1,000.

If the value stolen is more than $750 (which can be in one haul or a series of activities if prosecutors can prove they’re connected within a 120-day period), it becomes a third-degree felony, punishable by five years in prison.

The crime is in addition to the crimes of theft and fraud, which were already on the books.

Florida prime target for gift card scammers

Floridians were scammed out of more than $1 billion in 2024, according to the latest annual Internet Crime Report the FBI released on April 25, up from $874.74 million the year before. The Sunshine State saw both the third-most complaints and the third-highest losses behind California ($2.5 billion) and Texas ($1.35 billion).

But Florida had the highest rate of per capita fraud and identity theft, the report found, with 474,314 cases of fraud totaling more than $866 million in losses and a median loss of $520.

FBI data revealed that the group that suffered the most losses from scammers was, by a wide margin, people over the age of 60. Romance scams are on the rise, scammers are impersonating celebrities, and trusting people are getting tricked into buying gift cards to pay off nonexistent bills.

Port Orange police said that local residents have lost a million dollars to fraud so far in 2025.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill in 2024 to allow financial institutions to delay suspicious-looking transactions from a senior citizen if someone at the institution had a reasonable belief the person was being scammed. The law went into effect on Jan. 1.

Gift card scanning is escalating

And some scammers just outright steal them, or at least their numbers.

Two Chinese nationals were indicted in August for tampering with and scanning gift cards in at least 42 grocery stores in South Florida.

Last year, two people were charged with a scheme to defraud when authorities say they were seen opening gift cards in a Publix in Palm City and putting them back. Investigators said they were believed to have targeted stores in Orlando, Sarasota, Fort Myers, Naples, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami.

A man was charged with gift-card tampering in July after getting busted in a Jacksonville Beach Target. Investigators discovered he had visited stores in Palm Bay, Melbourne, Vierra, Merritt Island, Titusville, Palm Coast, Port Orange and Daytona Beach.

What are gift cards?

Gift cards are prepaid debit cards that are loaded with a specific amount of money that can be used by anyone possessing them or their identifying numbers. Some of them are offered by specific stores or restaurants to be used there and encourage more sales, others are general purpose and can be used anywhere, including getting cash at ATMs.

How to avoid gift card scams

“Only scammers will tell you to buy a gift card, like a Google Play or Apple Card, and give them the numbers off the back of the card,” the FTC said. “No matter what they say, that’s a scam.”

• If you get official-looking notices demanding payment in gift cards, go to the actual government or business websites or contact them by phone to see if there really is an outstanding debt or fee.

• Inspect any gift cards you plan to buy and avoid any that show any signs of tampering or opening. Turn in any you find to a store employee.

• Ask for your money back. Some companies are fighting gift card scams and might give your money back. Can’t hurt to ask.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida gift card fraud new law includes harsher penalties