You could be gambling this holiday season if you buy a gift card from an internet auction site.

Last year consumers purchased more than $19 billion worth of gift cards. Some of those consumers bought gift cards from internet auction sites. Seller’s list gift cards from all sorts of retailers, including Bed, Bath and Beyond, Talbot’s, and Victoria’s Secret.

The gamble usually starts with stolen credit cards or stolen merchandise that thieves quickly convert into gift cards. Gift cards are also cloned into phony gift cards with little or no value. In either case, thieves auction off these gift cards online to unsuspecting customers looking for a bargain.

Most sellers offer gift cards ‘worth’ almost $250 for just $200. These ‘discounts’ get people bidding.

But bad things can happen when gift cards are e-fenced. You may be helping a criminal that’s stolen somebody’s credit card get away with a crime. The second gamble is that you may go to the store with your internet purchased gift card and find out it’s bogus and has little or no value.

Several retailers did a survey two years ago and found that as much as 70% of the gift cards consumers acquired over the internet were in fact obtained with fraudulent tender or didn’t have the value that they claimed to have.

The National Retail Federation said consumers should only purchase gift cards from legitimate retailers where receipts are given along with the purchase.