I was thinking about #3 as well, but I was thinking that the scammers don't actually use the gift cards right? Don't they just re-sell them in order to launder them? I was also wondering, if you realize you've been scammed right afterwards, is there a process for reporting the numbers to the issuer so they can freeze them and try to refund the victim? I feel like that should be required somehow.
According to the article, the laundering is done in the US:
> Once the scammers obtain gift card numbers from a victim, they transfer them to a group of US-based “runners,” who liquidate and launder the funds — either by buying resellable goods at the store or selling them via gift card resale sites. Some even have their own gift card resale apps.
