Gift card fraud included in organized retail theft.

Gift card fraud joins organized theft rules

For crimes committed on or after August 1, 2025, Minnesota’s organized retail theft law covers gift cards and value-seeking tampering. Gift cards include physical and digital cards, whether activated or not, usable at one merchant, affiliated merchants, or multiple unrelated merchants. Their value is the greatest economic loss the owner could reasonably face, including face value or potential variable-load value. The accused person must work for or be linked to a theft group of at least two people. Group membership can change between offenses. The person must have committed or directed qualifying retail theft acts on at least two separate occasions in the preceding six months. They must also intentionally commit a qualifying theft or stolen-property act, or direct another group member to commit it. The person or another group member must resell the stolen goods, intend resale, advertise them, or display them for sale. Alternatively, a member must tamper with the stolen goods to get value from a retailer or customer. Returning stolen goods for value is removed as a separate way to meet this final requirement.