JC Penney store card

My son, who is in the Air Force based in Idaho sent my daughter $30.00 =

to purcahse a gift card to give me for Christmas. She purcahsed one at =

JC Penny and the cashier put the $30.00 on the card then asked my =

daughter if she wanted one with more of a christmas theme picture on it. =

My daughter exchanged the card but was told by the cashier that it =

didn't need rung through. I am assuming now that this is a scam by some =

dishonest cashiers and the card I received had no money on it while the =

original card probobly went into the cashiers pocket. The store said =

there is nothing they can do unless we produce the receipt to show that =

we did buy the card and they can check to see if any money was spent on =

it. Needless to say we don't have the receipt and even if we did I'm =

sure the money has been spent and how can we prove we didn't spend it? =

Is there anyway to get my money back? Thank you Victoria Shutika