I completely agree. I struggle to think of any legitimate business that would allow only gift cards. Maybe some privacy oriented VPN providers?

In any case, I think this is almost a willful misunderstanding. Not only does it attack the straw man of "no one ever gets legitimately paid in gift cards", but literally the first counterexample, Paysafecard, isn't a gift card!

I would never accept payment from anybody in gift cards even if I frequented the store. I would assume it's a scam.

Rarely does it look like a clear "debank X" system; it's more like "you look suspiciously like someone who might use our systems in a crime, in a way that will cost us money and get in trouble with the law, so we're not going to touch you". Which is much harder for an innocent person to deal with.

I do think there ought to be some sort of fallback banking and account denial review process, if we're going to make it that critical to society.

It's clear, from watching Russia fail to be completely sanctioned that this is not watertight. The question I have is: have these sanctions added a money laundering tax to doing business? How much? What is the cost of enforcing the sanctions vs the added cost and is that worth it?

I don't know if this has been explored, bit I think it's an interesting follow on to "all or nothing" watertight sanctions.

> struggle to wrap our minds around [..] remittances

You have family you care about back in your home country, so you send them money from your better-paid foreign job - what's confusing about that?

A gift card is always worth less than cash, how much depends on various factors.

At least 5% (rewards and inconvenience) but closer to 10-15% in my experience.

For a 20% discount on stores I use regularly I’ll get the gift card (usually buy $50 get $10 free).

I’ve had these, they would have got the CEO from LinkedIn and my number is googleable from having resumes online. Someone is doing this reconnaissance on different companies.

Did you confirm it was a scam? Primarily wondering if it's possible that the company itself contracted someone to do phishing test for new employees. I know there are plenty that do email version of this.

And I thought I was being paranoid when I redeemed Steam gift cards before even exiting the store.

I would not have believed for a second if stores here in my location in the U.S. did not recently begin locking up gift cards in a cage. I thought the move was quite odd, until I remembered a story that I read (possibly here?) about specific types of imaging that could see the pin behind the scratch off part.

Originally I assumed it was due to customer education/fraud, however no additional signage is posted at the stores doing this. Second thought was people must think these cards are already activated, however there is tons of text stating these things are only activated at POS.

The retailers I mentioned are nationwide. However, they've only recently began to do this, and only in a few locations that I am aware of.

One time I got a car detailed, and when I was paying at the end, I noticed that the employee was writing out a receipt and marking that I had paid with a gift card. I don’t remember if I was paying with cash or a credit card, but either way I figure some sort of tax evasion and/or money laundering scheme was happening.

This book [1] from 2011 by Kevin Poulsen about the carder Max Butler (alias Iceman). Runners would use his copied CCs (which he acquired via cracking into conputers) to buy gift cards in physical stores. Nowadays we got CVV (CVC).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingpin_(book)

What red flags does cash throw up that are circumvented by gift cards?

Cash requires in-person exchange. To use it electronically, you’d need to participate in the formal banking sector. Many people can’t or don’t.

Instead you can take your cash to any of a large number of retailers and acquire a card that sits outside the tight credit/debit-card regulations. That card, thanks to the wide reach of various multinational corporations, has broad (and cross-border) value and is suitable for electronic exchange. All that in exchange for a small(ish) tax (the price of the card plus whatever discount the recipient/exchange applies to its face value), and less recourse if you’re scammed or you screw up somehow.

Incidentally you might be interested in @patio’s description [0] of Japanese konbini (convenience store) payments. There, your remote payee gives you a transaction number. You take that number to your local convenience store and hand them the cash to complete the otherwise-electronic transaction.

[0] https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/payments-in-japan/#:~...

Some of the prevalence of gift cards in corporate culture is loopholes and silliness in tax codes and anti-bribery laws. Giving any cash to an employee counts as bonus income and needs tax withholding. Giving gift cards under certain values to an employee is a gift to the employee that doesn't count as income (and, worse, in some cases can be expense reported for a tax advantage as a cost of doing business, especially gift cards to restaurants where it may be assumed it is for a "business meal").

In a different direction, giving cash to a partner/vendor/competitor is pretty obvious to many laws as a bribe. Giving gift cards more resembles gifting swag or paying for a meal and is sometimes considered "allowed". Different companies have different views on that loophole, but some companies do take advantage of it. Enough companies at least did at one point that the "CEO is in a high-powered meeting and needs gift cards immediately" came from somewhere and it was probably that, wining and dining partners/vendors/competitors in "legally distinct from but quite resembling bribes".