KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You think you are getting a good deal on a gift card, but The Better Business Bureau of Greater Kansas City said it could be a scam. Aaron Reese, with the BBB, said this is the time of year there are a lot of incidents of gift card scams. He warns consumers not to purchase gift cards from people, but to only purchase them from retailers.

“If they have taken a picture of that they can go online and make a purchase online just using the numbers they have and take the numbers off that card,” Reese told FOX 4.

Reese said often times the scammer will try to sell a gift card for less than the amount on the card and pretend the card is to a store they don’t like. He said even if you call the number on the back of the card and verify the cash is on it, you could still be scammed.

“As soon as you learn there’s a lot of money on the card or however much you think there’s supposed to be they will have one of their friends or another con man just empty the card,” Reese said.

Reese said anybody who has ever had access to a gift card can spend the money on it even once it’s out of their hands.

“It’s crossing through a lot of fingers so there’s more of a chance that number has been exposed to more and more people as it gets to the final buyer,” he said.

Even experts in the gift card industry said they have fallen victim to scams like this one. Moray Colebank, who owns Coin for Cards, a business in Independence that purchases unwanted gift cards, said his company has been hit by scammers.

“If they have taken a picture of that they can go online and make a purchase online just using the numbers they have and take the numbers off the card,” he told FOX 4.

Staff with the BBB recommend only purchasing gift cards from the actual retailer and to make sure the numbers on the card are not exposed.