Why "Pay us with Gift Cards" is a red flag

Luc Labonte
Dec 22, 2025
1 min read

When someone is posing as an organization like the CRA, a bank or another business, they need to think about how to get away with the money they are stealing from you. A way for them to not be caught is to request gift cards as a form of payment.

Gift cards are very difficult to track for the police and other forms of law enforcement, so it has become a very common method that scammers will use to empty your pockets.

A scammer gleefully skipping away with your hard earned money in the form of gift cards.

It is an infographic explaining that if someone requests payment with gift cards, and they say they are with a bank, government body, or business, that person is scamming you. Because gift cards are exceptionally difficult to track.

So, if a government agency or business is asking you to pay them with gift cards. You are dealing with a scammer.

Please pause the conversation with the scammer and contact the RCMP anti-fraud centre: https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/report-signalez-eng.htm BBC also has a great article about it here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c997jy8k7rpo

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