This month, an elderly man approached a store clerk in Alberta, wanting to purchase gift cards. The clerk became suspicious and decided to intervene. It turned out he was being scammed and was in the process of liquidating his assets. He was on his way to losing $50 thousand in RRSPs. The clerk acted on information from a Gift Card Fraud handout that McLennan RCMP had put together. The fraud fighting tactic was implemented after RCMP noticed an increase in gift card scams.
RCMP are encouraging retailers to ask themselves a couple of questions when selling gift cards to customers:

Does this transaction make sense?

Would you be okay if your loved one was making this purchase?