---
title: "To Do: Extend Consumer Protections for Gift Cards"
summary: |-
  Congress should extend consumer protections in the Electronic Funds Transfer Act to gift cards.
date: "2022-12-12"
issues: ["Internet"]
content_type: "Knowledge Base Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/12/to-do-extend-consumer-protections-for-gift-cards/"
---

# To Do: Extend Consumer Protections for Gift Cards

# Recommendation

Congress should extend consumer protections in the Electronic Funds Transfer Act to gift cards.

# Details

Congress should update the Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) to make gift card issuers, or associated merchants, liable for unauthorized charges on both open-loop and closed-loop gift cards. Currently, consumers are protected from unauthorized use on debit and credit cards under EFTA, but consumers still bear most of the cost of gift card fraud. Making issuers and merchants liable for unauthorized charges would incentivize them to implement effective security features on gift cards to reduce fraud or discontinue offering them if the cost is too high.

**Keep reading:**

- Becca Trate, “How Policymakers Can Prevent Gift Card Scams” (ITIF Center for Data Innovation, December 2022), [https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/12/how-policymakers-can-prevent-gift-card-scams/](https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/12/how-policymakers-can-prevent-gift-card-scams/).

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2022/12/12/to-do-extend-consumer-protections-for-gift-cards/*