The caller said all he had to do was buy $480 in eBay gift cards. Prepaid gift cards are being requested in several different types of scams, including government employee impersonation scams, secret shopper scams and puppy scams. The Better Business Bureau scam tracker showed that Americans lost nearly $3 million involving payments with prepaid gift cards in 2020. “Whenever you purchase a prepaid gift card, unfortunately it’s just like cash, you can’t get that money back,” Blankenship said. Click here for more information on prepaid gift card scams.