Valve is letting physical Steam gift cards sell out at retailers
In June 2026, Valve wrote on the Steam help page that physical Steam gift cards were still on sale at retailers, but only for a limited time. Valve expected retailers to be out of stock by the end of 2026 and said it would not restock them. Valve said a physical Steam gift card you already bought can still be used on Steam, subject to local laws. Digital gift cards sold in the Steam store continue.
Valve gave scams as the reason. The company pointed to public information about gift card scams and wrote that scammers had adapted and were still affecting Steam customers and other people who did not expect it. The Steam gift card is not one of the brands in GiftVeri. This page does not describe those methods. If a call, a text or an email tells you to buy a gift card and read the gift card out, stop at the reading-out step, in When someone tells you to buy gift cards and read them out, stop there.
An Xbox gift card fraud of about ten million dollars
In 2021 Bloomberg reported a Microsoft Xbox gift card fraud of about ten million dollars. The Xbox gift card is not one of the brands in GiftVeri. That case does not say what is left on the Xbox gift card in your hand, and it is not a balance-check result. This page does not describe how that person used the accounts.
An arrest in a million-dollar Walmart gift card scam
In 2021 someone was arrested in a million-dollar Walmart gift card scam. The arrest is the outcome of that case. It is not the line a holder sees when they open a Walmart balance page.
Two Walmart gift cards in British Columbia that lost 700 Canadian dollars are a different case, on the Walmart gift card page. This page does not describe how that million-dollar scam was carried out.
A report that people used programs to steal gift cards
In 2021 a report said people were using programs to steal gift cards. The report did not land on one card from a brand GiftVeri already lists, and it did not give a balance a holder could match to their own card. GiftVeri batch checking is for a holder checking their own gift cards. It is not for the activity in that report. This page does not describe how those numbers were tried.
Starbucks treated a gift card bug report as fraud
In 2015 someone reported a bug in Starbucks gift cards. Starbucks did not treat the report as an ordinary balance check. Starbucks publicly described the report and the related activity as fraud. The amount on your Starbucks gift card is not that bug report. The receipt, whether the outer package was scanned, and when an amount shows up are on the Starbucks gift card page. This page does not describe what the bug looked like.
A phony return turned into a gift card
In 2015 someone wrote that phony returns become gift cards. That happens at the return counter, not on the gift card you paid for off the shelf. The report did not name one gift card brand in GiftVeri. The gift card you bought and a gift card made at the return counter are not the same card. This page does not describe how the return counter is worked.
An employee took gift cards from the store
In 2010 someone wrote that employees take gift cards from retail stores. That report did not name one gift card brand. A buyer cannot see the change from the outside of the package, and that is a different case from a gift card whose number was copied on the shelf. When the number on the sleeve does not match the gift card in your hand, see Apple and Best Buy gift cards: the number on the sleeve is not the card in your hand. This page does not describe how an employee makes the swap.
Cardly and GiftcardMate were product announcements
In December 2025 someone posted to announce a gift card balance tracker called Cardly. GiftcardMate was the same kind of announcement in 2011. Both posts introduce a product. Neither post is a gift card that got stuck on a balance check. Those products are not described here, and they are not compared with GiftVeri.