Watch out for the Vanilla gift card scam. If you purchase or receive one, don't open it or try to activate it. I ran into this when a friend just sent me one for Christmas. It was a $50.00 gift card, and each time I attempted to activate it, I got the message that an error occurred and to try later. After several attempts, with the same results, I became suspicious and investigated. Well, there are reams of complaints and those whose cards were activated, ran into difficulties in attempting to check their balance. In short, they lost their money, as did the purchaser. Over 400 cases against this outfit and only 5 have been settled.
I went ahead and reported them to the BBB, Visa, Equifax, et al. I let them know, and my friend happily got her money back. Not always the case I am told. I think they have to be threatened before they return your money. They also deal with 2 banks I never even heard of.