2 men arrested in ‘sophisticated’ gift card scam in Ontario

Police display the thousands of gift cards they seized as part of Project Reload. (Halton Regional Police)

Two men have been arrested in connection with what police say was a “sophisticated gift card scam” at multiple stores across southern Ontario.

Halton Regional Police said their investigation began in Dec. 2025 when they received a report about a suspected fraud at a Walmart store in Burlington.

During the investigation, officers saw a man remove gift cards from his pockets and place them on a display rack, police said.

After that, the man then allegedly selected additional gift cards, concealed them and exited the store without activating or purchasing them.

“The scheme involved fraudulently placing compromised gift cards onto retail display racks and later monitoring the cards for activation by unsuspecting customers. Once funds were loaded onto the cards at purchase, the suspect redeemed the balances to obtain goods and other items of value before the legitimate purchaser could use them,” police said in a news release on Thursday.

As a result, police launched “Project Reload” to look into the man’s involvement in a “sophisticated and organized gift card fraud scheme operating across multiple jurisdictions throughout Ontario.”

Investigators identified similar incidents in Halton, Hamilton, Brantford, Niagara, Toronto, Peel, Guelph, York, Barrie and Kitchener-Waterloo.

Police said their surveillance found that the man was “actively and systematically” placing gift cards.

“During the course of the investigation, investigators seized a quantity of these gift cards and, for evidentiary purposes, loaded them with varying monetary values,” police said.

They later confirmed that the funds had been redeemed and that the suspect used them to make purchases.

Investigators executed three search warrants in Mississauga earlier this month, resulting in the arrest of two suspects.

They have been identified as 48-year-old Giorgi Khandolishvili and 40-year-old Jevgenij Pikunov.

Both have been charged with fraud over $5,000, fraud under $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, possession of a forged document with intent and forgery.

The search also led to the seizure of several items, including 5,700 prepaid gift cards with discernible values with a total at-risk loss over $1 million, 137 bottles of alcohol valued over $11,000, 487 Belmont cigarette packs valued over $8,000, a 2012 BMW X3, high-end watches, jewelry, sunglasses, a card-making instrument and other tools to tamper with gift cards and a card printer.

Police said they also confiscated pellet rifles, a pellet gun, and a pellet pistol.