iTunes Gift Card Fraud?

So a few months back I purchased some iTunes gift cards, fast forward a few months.. still haven't used them so I decided to sell them. Post an ad on craigslist, get a response and go to meet up with the person. Card is unscratched and never used, so he asks if he can scratch it off and check the balance and thinking nothing of it I say sure because if I were in the position of buying a gift card I'd want to check the balance too. He scans it and tells me "it's already been redeemed." I thought hmmm...impossible.

I get home and call apple and they tell me it was redeemed a day earlier...what a weird coincidence. A card I haven't used for months just all of a sudden got redeemed a day prior to the code even seeing sunlight. Seems a little too fishy for me, he must have stolen the credit. After numerous emails over 4 days, providing everything they asked; scans of the gift card with disputed code, dated invoices and receipts they basically tell me there is nothing they can do to reverse the transaction. Unreal, you mean to tell me they actually let people get away with this?!

My question is: Is there anything to protect someone trying to sell a gift card in a situation like this? Is there a way to actually check the balance without actually redeeming the gift card? Short of being too trustworthy, is there anything I could have done differently?

Thanks for any help.