What happens to unused gift cards?

A gift card is considered inactive if it's not used for a prolonged period of time, typically 2 to 5 years after purchase. When a gift card becomes inactive, the issuing merchant is supposed to claim a “breakage”, which is a portion of the unused amount and return the rest (unclaimed property referred to as "escheatment") to the state where the consumer resides. However, merchants use various tricks to avoid returning the unclaimed property. If at all the merchants returned unclaimed money to the state, consumers can reclaim it from missingmoney.com. However, in most cases, nothing is left for the consumers to reclaim.

Merchants get the money, but consumers lose (Courtesy Google Flow)