[droithomme]

Interesting question. It seems you can buy them with cash from local places like Dollar Stores and such, and use for in person purchases with no id. But on line verification uses your provided name, billing address and phone number as validation it is a legit purchase and not a stolen card. So you have to register the card before online use with this information. You are not required though to provide true information here, it just needs to be information that matches what you give when you make the purchase. I could find no reference that SSNs are required, but perhaps some issuers require it. That would be important to know which one since most states allow false names as long as not used for fraud, but there's now a federal law that makes using an incorrect SSN a crime.

[dangrossman]

I tend to get a Visa gift card from at least one person as a holiday gift. I spend them online without registering them. The big retailers expect lots of gift card buyers after the holidays and don't seem to be doing AVS.