Deepak Gupta

Business payment fraud (BEC) · Also called boss gift card scam, gift card BEC, urgent favor scam, fake manager gift card request

Executive gift card request scam

The executive gift card scam is a text, email, or call that appears to come from your boss or another senior leader, asking you to buy gift cards urgently for a client, an office event, or staff rewards. You are told to send the card numbers and PINs and promised repayment, but once you share them the money is gone.

How it works

A scammer sends a spoofed email, text, or call, or uses a hacked account, pretending to be a manager or executive.
They ask for an urgent favour: buy several gift cards for a client, a work event, or a personal occasion, and they will pay you back.
They ask you to send the numbers and PINs from the backs of the cards.
They use the card balances right away, and may follow up with requests for more cards or a wire transfer.

Red flags

Your boss asks you to buy several gift cards, even for an ordinary-sounding reason.
You are asked to send the gift card numbers and PINs.
The request comes from an unfamiliar number or email address and says the sender cannot talk right now.
You are promised repayment later, or the cards are given another name, such as certificates.

If you are targeted

Stop: do not buy any more cards or send any more numbers.
Contact the gift card company right away, report the scam, and ask for your money back; keep the cards and receipts.
Tell your manager, on a number or address you know, and your IT or security team.
Report it. Our Report a scam page lists where to report in your country, such as ic3.gov and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US.

Where to report, by country

Prevention

For individuals

Check with your boss first using a number or email address you know is real, not the one that contacted you.
Remember the FTC's point: only scammers ask for gift card numbers and PINs.
Be suspicious of any request for multiple gift cards, even if the reason sounds ordinary.

For organisations

Make it a written policy that leaders never ask staff to buy gift cards by message, and that any such request is confirmed by a callback on a known number.
Flag emails from outside the company and from domains that look like your own, and turn on multi-factor authentication for staff email.

By the numbers

Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.

Business email compromise losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025

$3.05B

US, 2025, FBI IC3

Real cases

No documented case in the atlas yet. New cases are added as they are sourced.

Delivered through: Spear phishing, SMS phishing (smishing)

How official datasets classify it

FBI IC3: Business Email Compromise
MITRE ATT&CK: T1684.001, T1657

Questions

Would my boss really ask me to buy gift cards?: Check before you do anything. The FTC advises contacting your boss on a number or email you know is real, because scammers often pose as managers to ask for gift cards.
I sent gift card numbers to a scammer. Can I get the money back?: Contact the gift card company straight away and ask for a refund. The FBI says some victims have recovered funds this way, and speed matters.