Valve Ends Physical Steam Gift Cards, Conceding Scammers Have Won the Cat-and-Mouse Game
Valve has confirmed it will stop restocking physical Steam gift cards at retail stores by year-end, citing an unwinnable battle against scammers who adapted faster than every safeguard the company deployed. The move puts the retail gift card industry on notice at a moment when the FTC says older Americans lost $2.4 billion to fraud in 2024 alone — with gift cards among the top payment methods used against them.
