Be wary if someone claiming to be with a government office says you owe them money and want you to pay up using a gift card. In the past couple of years, scammers doubled down on gift cards as a method to steal money from consumers while the public embraces digital versions of the cards.

In some cases, the scammers will persuade individuals to purchase gift cards by impersonating online sellers, pet breeders, government or sweepstakes officials and others. BBB Investigator Don O’Brien says there are some scammers that actually go to the store and put their hands on the cards first.

Losses from scams involving gift cards tend to be much higher than most other payment methods, ranking third behind wire transfers and cryptocurrency, according to a 2022 BBB Institute for Market Trust report. Gift cards are treated like cash, which makes stolen funds hard to recover.