Gift card draining scam victim's plea to shops

Neil Bampton bought a gift card from Tesco which turned out to have been tampered with

A man who fell victim to a gift card draining scam is calling on supermarkets to do more to protect shoppers.

Neil Bampton, 36, said he spent £40 on an Amazon gift card at a Tesco in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, but it had been tampered with and the money stolen by scammers.

He said he spent weeks chasing a refund and now wants shops to keep the cards behind the counter or in a security box to protect them from criminals.

Industry representatives have said this would make buying them much more inconvenient for shoppers and they are working on other ways to keep the cards safe.

Like 'being pickpocketed'

Mr Bampton said he wanted to raise awareness of the scam ahead of Christmas, when lots of people will be buying these cards.

"When they're not secured properly, it seems you're taking your money into your own hands.

"It's not better than walking into the store and being pickpocketed.

"I wanted to get this put right higher up," he said.

Mr Bampton said he bought the card for his sister's birthday.

But when she went to use it, she found the foil covering the card's redemption code had been removed, and the numbers erased.

When she got in touch with Amazon, they told her the money had already been used.

Mr Bampton said both Amazon and Tesco refused to refund his sister's card because he didn't have a till receipt.

However, after he contacted the BBC, both companies gave him a refund.

The gift card had already been used by the time Mr Bampton's sister went to claim it

"You feel like you've failed in giving them a present and you can't sort it out.

"It's been difficult, stressful, not knowing if there'd ever be any solution.

"It got to the point where it wasn't about the money, it was knowing Christmas is coming up – if I've been caught by this, then thousands of people could potentially be caught," he said.

Amazon said it was the shop's responsibility to offer a refund but they did in this case as a "one-time exception".

Tesco told the BBC they were "really sorry" and added their team should have given Mr Bampton a refund when he first got in touch, so they will be updating their training.

'Stop, think and check'

Action Fraud said there were 6,229 reports of gift card fraud in 2023, the latest figures available.

In that year, people lost about £13.4m to this type of fraud.

"Always stop, think, and check before you purchase a gift card online or in store," a spokesperson said.

MP Luke Charters received a card as a gift which had been compromised

Labour MP for York Outer Luke Charters was given a £75 gift card which was bought in Leeds and used by scammers in Manchester 20 minutes later.

He has been speaking to retailers since and believes they should put in better monitoring behind the scenes to pick up suspicious activity, and to train staff better to help victims.

He also wants retailers whose cards are getting targeted a lot to think about putting them behind the counter.

"Gift card fraud is on the up," he said.

"It looks as though there's a degree of organised criminal activity here so we've got to recognise who we're up against.

"We need to make sure the sector is out innovating the criminals behind all this."

However Hannah Shimko, managing director of the Gift Card and Voucher Association, said the problem cannot be fixed "simply by changing how cards are displayed".

She said putting them behind the counter would add "unnecessary friction" and could lead to a 30% drop in sales, based on industry experience.

That is because for most shoppers they are an impulse purchase.

She added other solutions like improved packaging, security in stores and monitoring were the "most effective ways to tackle this crime".

"Gift cards remain one of the safest and most popular ways to gift, with billions of pounds spent safely each year.

"The real issue is not where the cards are placed, but the small number of organised criminals exploiting retail systems," she said.