7 On Your Side rights man scammed out of $500 gift card

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- Gift cards are as popular as ever, but they also remain a favorite target among thieves.

A San Carlos man found this out the hard way.

You could be holding your newly activated gift card, not knowing a con artist is about to steal the money you loaded onto it. It happened one viewer who came to me when his $500 disappeared.

Gil de Vencenzi of San Carlos bought a good friend a $500 "Vanilla" gift card over the holidays. It's called "Vanilla" because it can be used anywhere.

"He called me and said 'Uh, the gift card isn't working' and I thought, Oh God," de Vencenzi said.

De Vencenzi called Vanilla and the company told him the card had not been properly activated, so he went to the CVS where he bought it.

"He said oh, we give Vanilla floor space, we don't take any responsibility for the cards," de Vencenzi said.

CVS told him to contact Vanilla, which told him to go back to CVS. Now it was getting frustrating

All de Vencenzi knew was his friend never got any gift and he just paid $500 for worthless plastic. He was about to give up ever getting it back.

"But my wife, who's a very beautiful Canadian, she just said, 'No Way.' She said, 'They have to get that back to you,'" he said.

He contacted 7 On Your Side. We contacted CVS and the company contacted de Vencenzi and offered a refund right away.

"I thought, damn that's pretty good," de Vencenzi said.

CVS tells 7 On Your Side the card didn't work because the number on the back did not match the one he purchased. It appears he was a victim of fraud.

Thieves take a gift card out of a package and replace it with another empty gift card. They wait for the real card to get activated, via the barcode on the package. Then they use the real card. Victims are left with the empty one.

CVS said, "We decided to issue a refund to the customer and resolve this directly with the card vendor."

Gil got his money back and his friend got his gift, the old fashioned way

"I gave him five $100 bills, which in my book spends a lot better," de Vencenzi said.

Thieves are good at steaming open gift card packages so they can swap out cards, so if you buy a gift card off a rack, look closely at the package for possible tampering. You might even check the value on the card before you leave the store.