A scam draining Apple gift cards is spreading worldwide. While some perpetrators are being caught, you need to protect yourself.
Gift card scams have existed for as long as there have been gift cards, but usually it's bad actors tricking users into paying huge sums with them. A New South Wales investigation has brought to light a different scam that is used for money laundering, and even funds human trafficking.
According to ABC News Australia, the scam works first by Apple and other gift cards being stolen from supermarket shelves. The codes from those cards are then taken and the cards put back on the shelves.
Then when a customer buys the card and it is therefore activated with, say, $100 on it, the scammers spend the money. In New South Wales, the Coles supermarket chain spent a year building a case against one 32-year-old man, who was convicted of the fraud.
After he had been tracked and monitored repeatedly visiting multiple stores, police searched his home in Sydney in mid-2025. Overall, he had 56 Apple Gift Cards ranging from $100 to $500 in value.
He was eventually convicted in July 2026, getting a 15-month suspended prison sentence plus a two-year community corrections order.
"Gift card tampering and fraud is an evolving challenge affecting retailers and customers both in Australia and internationally," said a supermarket spokesperson. "Coles takes the issue extremely seriously."
Supermarket security footage of a suspect putting a tampered gift card back on the shelves - image credit: ABC News.
The man arrested claimed to have been hired by a Chinese syndicate, though no other members have been detained. It is clear, however, that such scams are being perpetrated globally, including the US.
Apple's gift cards are being targeted worldwide
"All of America's top 20 retailers were being affected," US Homeland Security's lead investigator Adam Parks said. "Young Chinese nationals were being interdicted and arrested while taking cards off the rack, blank cards off the rack, taking them away from the store."
Apple would not comment on the Australian report, but did say that its packaging was intended to prevent this kind of tampering. The company altered its card packaging in early 2025 to make the pack much harder to open and then reseal.
How to protect yourself
You can order Apple Gift Cards online from Apple, and those will not have been tampered with. If you're buying at any retail point of sale, it's now essential to examine the packs carefully.
It is of course the job of these scammers to hide what they've done, so they may reseal the gift card pack very well. The card inside will have had its code number visible because the scammers have scraped off the cover, though.
Consequently, you or whoever you give the card to should examine it promptly. Go back to the supermarket if you suspect the card has been opened and used.
Or better yet, don't buy a tampered package at all.
What happens then depends on the retailer and possibly also on Apple. The ABC News Australia report says that one victim did get a refund from Apple, but you can't assume that will always happen.
Separately, if you are ever asked to pay for anything in Apple Gift Cards, it is a scam. No company or government agency will ever ask you to do that.
