Updated at: 12/18/2009 9:19 AM

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Avoiding Gift Card Scams

Gift cards are a popular item, especially around the holidays.

"My son is new to Preschool and Sunday School and we figured it was am easy gift for his teachers," said Tom Warren. "We let them choose what the actual gift is."

But because gift cards are so easy and you can find them almost anywhere, local law enforcement say you need to be aware of scams.

The Minnesota Business Bureau says many gift card scams involve the internet. For example, people will sell gift cards online but overstate their value. Or worse, they'll sell a gift card with no money on it at all.

"What we tell consumers is to try and buy from the store," said Barb Grieman, Vice President of the Minnesota and North Dakota Better Business Bureau. "Stay away from the internet auctions because there's more risk associated with that type of purchase.

Another scam involves thieves using stolen credit cards to buy gift cards, and then selling them online to unsuspecting shoppers.

"So the gift card may have a value to it, but if the store finds out it was bought on a stolen credit card you may not be able to use it since it wasn't purchased legitimately," said Grieman.

Scams can happen inside of a store as well. One involves people going into stores and writing down or taking pictures of bar codes and pin numbers on the back of gift cards. Then, they wait a few days for it to be purchased, go online, and shop using the card's information.

To combat this scam, many stores like Target, cover the information on the back of their gift cards.

"Our gift cards have a scratch-off bar code that you can't access until you check out," said Carlye Carlson, Team Leader of the Duluth Target.