VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Gift card scams are a growing problem across the country, even making its way to Hampton Roads. WAVY 10 spoke to a woman who, despite her best efforts, fell victim to this. Follow these three golden rules to avoid gift card scams this holiday season While shopping for presents at the Walmart off of Phoenix Drive in Virginia Beach, Dr. Stephenie Howard came across a MasterCard gift card. She bought it for a loved one, putting $75 on the card. But after opening the package to mail it out, she found out the card inside was not the one she paid for. Dr. Howard even inspected the card before buying it. She could see what looked like part of the real gift card in the packaging. Whoever tampered with it beforehand put a lot of work into making it look convincing. She explained all this after reaching out to 10 On Your Side's own Kiahnna Patterson. "When I opened the card, I noticed that there was a piece of paper taped to the back of the Panera card that had what should have been the MasterCard number on it," she said. "And so, that was what was matching up with the packaging. But again, it wasn't the actual card number that was inside." When Dr. Howard returned to the store, she said the manager was surprised to hear it happened. They told her to call MasterCard customer service, which she did. "I feel like they were really scrutinizing me and questioning me, which made me feel really uncomfortable," she recalled. This scam is a growing problem. The Federal Trade Commission put out a warning this holiday season, urging shoppers to report gift card scams. As Dr. Howard experienced first-hand, tampered cards are looking more convincing. She has yet to get a refund in the mail, causing her gift to be delayed. "Knowledge is power," Dr. Howard added. "There's so many people like me who encounter so much scrutiny and tend to be criminalized unfairly. We feel uncomfortable. We're intimidated to address issues. Knowing that it is a larger issue might empower some folks to be able to address it." Our news team got a statement from InComm Payments, who works with MasterCard on these gift card products. The statement can be found below: While we do not comment on individual cases due to policy and privacy restrictions, we can share that our team has been in contact with the customer regarding her case. As a leader in the industry, we are at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to combat emerging threats. We continuously leverage new technologies, packaging techniques, monitoring systems, and other security practices to help protect consumers against fraud. If a cardholder experiences an issue, they should call the phone number on the back of their card to reach their product's Customer Care team for assistance. InComm Payments