Prepaid cards can be fenced for up to 80% of their value

Drug traffickers, terrorists and other criminals have found a simple and ingenious way to launder their dirty money. Prepaid cards, especially gift cards, can be fenced for up to 80% of their value, according to Canada's FINTRAC. Popular sites such as eBay, Craigslist and various card-exchange sites have made “e-fencing” an incredibly easy way to launder dirty money for about a 20% cost, much less than what traditional, human fences would charge. FINTRAC cites one ring of thieves who were caught in Florida in 2007 after buying US$24,000 worth of gift cards from one Wal-Mart and US$18,000 from another Wal-Mart. FINTRAC also reports that British experts allege that prepaid cards have been used to move terrorist funds around the world and finance terrorist attacks. (Read the article "Card Tricks" in the January-February 2011 edition of CAmagazine, also available online.)