What to do if you’re a victim of a Google Play gift card scam

If you’re a victim of a gift card scam, report the scam to your local police department. 

Next, report the gift card scam to Google. If you report the scam, it may help protect you and others from similar suspicious activities in the future.

Someone might be trying to scam you if they ask you to buy a Google Play or speciality gift card and share the code so that you can pay for something outside Google Play.

• A scammer calls and pretends to be from a government agency (like the IRS in the US. Other countries have agencies with different names). The scammer says that you owe money for taxes, bail money, debt collection and more. They tell you that to avoid arrest, or to prevent the seizure of physical items or your personal identification information (like your SSN in the US. Other countries use different names), you have to pay them with gift cards.
• A scammer claims to be a family member in trouble, an solicitor or another representative of your family member. The scammer tells you that they need to be paid in gift cards in order to remedy the situation. They may deter you from attempts to contact the family member to verify the claim. Don’t believe them. Never buy gift cards for them or provide them with any gift card codes.

These examples only cover some types of scams. Scammers constantly change the ways that they trick people. If anyone asks you for a code, it could be a scam.

• Never share the code on the back of the gift card or within the redemption link of a digital gift card.
• Do not use Play gift cards outside of Play Store purchases. Do not use speciality gift cards purchased on Google Play app outside their respective brands:
  • Never use Google Play gift cards or speciality gift cards purchased on Google Play app to pay for taxes, bail money or anything outside Google Play.
  • Google Play gift cards can only be used for purchases on the Google Play app. Speciality gift cards purchased on Google Play can only be redeemed with their respective brands.
  • It's a violation of our Terms of Service to use gift cards this way.
• Be wary of messages or sites that ask for your personal information:
  • Be careful if someone is claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account and they ask for information that the business should already have.
• Google will never ask you for payment information over the phone:
  • Always verify the caller’s identity before you provide any personal information.
• Consider how you pay:
  • Credit cards have significant fraud protection built in, but other payment methods don’t. Sending money through services such as Western Union or Moneygram is risky because it’s nearly impossible to get your money back. That’s also true for reloadable cards and gift cards, such as Google Play gift cards.
• Be cautious of amazing deals or big prizes:
  • A message is probably up to no good if it offers you a prize or promotes quick and easy ways to make money.
• Beware of fraudsters impersonating Google:
  • Check that official Google-encrypted sites such as play.google.com/redeem or pay.google.com/send and email addresses like [email protected] are used.

Google Play gift cards cannot be resold, exchanged or transferred for value, so we will not be able to issue you a new gift card. 

Check the Google Play gift card Terms of Service to learn more about the limitations for gift cards.

Unfortunately, Google Play gift cards are also not redeemable for cash, not reloadable and non-refundable, unless required by law. 

See what you can buy with your Google Play balance