Payment fraud · checked 27 October 2026

Boss asking for gift cards? It's almost certainly a scam

A text or email that seems to come from your manager or CEO says they're in a meeting, need gift cards for clients or staff right now, and asks you to send the card numbers and PINs. The FTC's rule is simple: no real business will tell you to buy gift cards to pay it.

How to spot it

• Urgent and secret: "I'm in a meeting, can't talk, keep this between us."
• A new number or a lookalike address, or a free email account using the boss's name.
• Specific cards and amounts, often Apple, Google Play or Amazon, several cards of a few hundred each.
• A request for photos of the back of the cards or the codes and PINs.

Check by calling your boss on the number you already have, or asking them in person. Don't reply to the message.

Already sent the codes?

• Contact the gift card company right away, even if some time has passed. Apple and Google can freeze funds still on the card. Amazon: 1 (888) 280-4331; Apple: 1 (800) 275-2273 (say "gift card").
• Keep the cards and receipts; you'll need them for any refund.
• Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US, or to Report Fraud in the UK, and tell your company.
• If it came from a real company mailbox, that account may be hacked: get IT to check it now.

Stop it at your company

• Make it a written rule: managers never ask for gift cards, crypto or wire transfers by text or email.
• Any payment request that changes how or where money goes gets a call-back on a known number.
• The same trick is used for bigger amounts: fake invoices and "new bank details". Controls to prevent invoice fraud · BEC statistics.

Source: FTC, "Avoiding and reporting gift card scams". Read 27 October 2026. General guidance.

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