Steam Will No Longer Sell Physical Gift Cards Due to Scammers

Giving Steam gift cards to the gamer in your life is a great way to show your appreciation and make their day brighter. Unfortunately, scammers are ruining the fun, as Valve has just announced it won't be restocking Steam gift cards at retail stores.

Steam gift cards were introduced in 2012, with digital gift cards being added in 2017, but just like other major brands such as Google Pay, Apple, and Amazon, scammers quickly discovered these gift cards allowed them the opportunity to conceal their identity when tricking people out of their hard-earned money.

Valve Ends Retail Steam Gift Card Program Due to Scams

Despite doing everything in their power to combat the scammers, Steam has been forced to accept defeat. "As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted. They continue to have an impact on Steam customers and other unsuspecting individuals. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores."

Steam revealed they didn't give up easily, though, and over the past few years, they've been taking action against the gift card scammers by working with retailers, law enforcement, adding scam warnings on the cards, and removing cards from sale when strange activity is detected. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to stop the scammers from scamming.

You can still find physical Steam cards out in the wild, but not for long, as Steam estimates all retailers will run out of stock by the end of 2026.

Thankfully, digital Steam gift cards aren't going anywhere, and Steam is reportedly working on improving its digital gift card experience even more as physical cards slowly become extinct.

The unfortunate reality is that this makes it harder for certain people to buy gift cards for family and friends. If Grandma and Grandpa aren't the best with technology, asking them to go 'online' to buy a digital gift card might seem like gibberish to them.

And so, gone will be the days of simply picking up a physical Steam gift card and attaching it to a loving birthday card, but as there are many gift cards still in circulation, and scams are taking place all over the world, there are a few pieces of information that will make avoiding scams much easier for everyone.

How to Avoid Gift Card Scams

The first step is identifying a scam, but that's not always easy. According to Steam, "We have seen reports of scammers contacting their victims over the phone and coercing them to purchase gift cards to cover payment for taxes, bail, debts, or delivery of money won in sweepstakes. The scammers often pose as agents of official agencies, such as the I.R.S., to convince their victims to comply."

If the scammers are successful in convincing a person to purchase gift cards, they will then ask the victim to take a picture of the code on the back of the card and send it to them via email or text message.

If you ever receive a random call that seems like it could be legitimate, but then they ask for gift cards as payment, it's a scam. According to the U.S Federal Trade Commission website, "No real business or government agency will ever tell you to buy a gift card to pay them. Always keep a copy of your gift card and store receipt. Use them to report gift card scams to the gift card company and ask for your money back."

It's important to note that scammers will say just about anything to get you to act without thinking. They will claim something terrible will happen if you don't pay immediately, or pretend there is a big prize pool of money waiting for you, as long as you hurry up and hand over the gift cards.