Canonical URL: https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/washington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session/ --- description: A September 15 work session examined the theft mechanism and retail advocates' proposal to address cards compromised before shoppers load value. title: Washington senators examine tampering before gift cards are activated image: https://giftcard.news/images/social/v1/washington-senators-examine-tampering-before-gift-cards-activated-c733766fe2b81f22cbbafe18e0c5f87e.jpg --- 1. [Home](https://giftcard.news/) 2. [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) # Washington senators examine tampering before gift cards are activated A September 15 work session examined the theft mechanism and retail advocates' proposal to address cards compromised before shoppers load value. By [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) September 15, 2026 1 min read [ Google News ](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=giftcard.news&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news) Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Washington+senators+examine+tampering+before+gift+cards+are+activated&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Washington+senators+examine+tampering+before+gift+cards+are+activated+https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "WhatsApp") ![Customer hands holding a blue card at a retail payment terminal](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/washington-senators-examine-tampering-before-gift-cards-activated-customer-hands-holding-blue-w1280.webp) Illustrative card transaction. The image does not depict the operator or program in this report. Photo: SpotOn / Unsplash. Photo: SpotOn / Unsplash Washington's Senate Law and Justice Committee examined gift-card fraud and tampering at a September 15 work session, including cards compromised before shoppers purchase and activate them. The official TVW session page confirms the date and gift-card agenda. [Washington Retail Association](https://giftcard.news/organization/washington-retail-association/) described the industry's presentation in a September 17 account. The association says it participated alongside [Washington Organized Retail Crime Association](https://giftcard.news/organization/washington-organized-retail-crime-association/), the Gift Card Fraud Prevention Alliance, [The Home Depot](https://giftcard.news/company/the-home-depot/) and the state Attorney General's Office. ## A compromise before activation The retail association describes offenders recording numbers and redemption codes from display cards, resealing their packaging and returning them to sale. A later legitimate purchase loads value into an instrument whose credentials are already known to the offender. The association argues that the timing creates an enforcement problem around unactivated cards and advocates legislation addressing that gap. This is its assessment and proposal, rather than a finding that every such act is lawful under existing statutes. Its account refers to earlier companion bills in the 2025-26 legislative biennium and hopes for progress in 2027\. The September work session did not enact a gift-card law. The new development is lawmakers' scrutiny of the link between pre-sale tampering and later loss of loaded value. Any legislative response remains to be determined. ## In this article ### Companies * [The Home Depot](https://giftcard.news/company/the-home-depot/) ### Organizations * [Washington Organized Retail Crime Association](https://giftcard.news/organization/washington-organized-retail-crime-association/) * [Washington Retail Association](https://giftcard.news/organization/washington-retail-association/) ### Sources and documents * [First-party September 17 account of the September 15 work session](https://washingtonretail.org/washington-senators-take-up-gift-card-fraud-tampering/?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news) — Washington Retail Association * [Official September 15 Senate Law and Justice session date and agenda](https://tvw.org/video/senate-law-justice-2026091163/?utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news) — TVW Share [ ](https://x.com/intent/post?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dx%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&text=Washington+senators+examine+tampering+before+gift+cards+are+activated&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "X") [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dlinkedin%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "LinkedIn") [ ](https://wa.me/?text=Washington+senators+examine+tampering+before+gift+cards+are+activated+https%3A%2F%2Fgiftcard.news%2Ffraud-security%2Fwashington-senate-unactivated-gift-card-tampering-work-session%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dwhatsapp%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dsocial&utm%5Fsource=giftcard.news&utm%5Fcampaign=giftcard.news "WhatsApp") ![Portrait of Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/images/variants/v1/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait-w320.webp) About the author ## [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News. From reading to building ## Your next move in gift cards. Tell us what you’re building. We’ll help you explore suitable providers. [Find a provider ](https://giftcard.news/find-a-provider/) ## Related articles [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [giftee Group estimates JPY 550 million loss after unauthorized e-gift issuance](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/giftee-unauthorized-egift-issuance-estimated-loss-2026/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 26, 2026 3 min [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [San Francisco settlement creates $1.525 million Vanilla gift-card fund](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/san-francisco-vanilla-gift-card-restitution-fund/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 23, 2026 4 min [Fraud & Security](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/) News ### [Valuedesign reports card-data leak as MOS resets PINs](https://giftcard.news/fraud-security/valuedesign-value-card-data-leak-mos-card-2026/) [Daniel Brooks](https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/) October 23, 2026 4 min ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher","name":"Gift Card News","url":"https://giftcard.news/","description":"News and analysis covering gift cards, retail, loyalty, rewards and payments worldwide.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/icon-512.png","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/icon-512.png","width":512,"height":512,"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#logo"},"publishingPrinciples":"https://giftcard.news/editorial-policy/","correctionsPolicy":"https://giftcard.news/editorial-policy/"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://giftcard.news/#website","url":"https://giftcard.news/","name":"Gift Card News","description":"News and analysis covering gift cards, retail, loyalty, rewards and payments worldwide.","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@id":"https://giftcard.news/#publisher"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://giftcard.news/search/?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/#person","name":"Daniel Brooks","url":"https://giftcard.news/author/daniel-brooks/","description":"Daniel Brooks covers payment networks, financial technology, payment security, gift card fraud and PCI DSS for Gift Card News.","jobTitle":"Journalist — Payments, Security & PCI DSS","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp","width":1254,"height":1254,"caption":"Illustrated portrait representing the Daniel Brooks editorial profile.","@id":"https://giftcard.news/images/daniel-brooks-editorial-portrait.webp#image","encodingFormat":"image/webp","description":"Illustrated portrait for Daniel Brooks, a Gift Card News editorial pen name","creditText":"Gift Card News / AI-generated illustration"}},{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://giftcard.news/images/washington-senators-examine-tampering-before-gift-cards-activated-customer-hands-holding-blue.webp","contentUrl":"https://giftcard.news/images/washington-senators-examine-tampering-before-gift-cards-activated-customer-hands-holding-blue.webp","width":1920,"height":1440,"caption":"Illustrative card transaction. 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