It’s one of the most popular holiday gifts, but more shoppers are discovering their gift cards have a zero balance before they’re even used.

Thieves are stealing unactivated cards, recording the numbers and barcodes, then placing them back on the rack. Once an unsuspecting shopper buys and activates that card, fraudsters move quickly — draining the balance within minutes.

“I couldn't tell that this thing had been tampered with at all," said Alexis Cruz.

She bought a $100 gift card as a present, but someone else spent the money first.

“Essentially, I just gifted a scammer $100 without even knowing it," Cruz said.

A Maryland business ran into the same problem, handing out gift cards to employees as appreciation gifts.

“We were giving them gift cards and they were coming back to us sayi

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