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It was a simple way to say thanks — three $50 Canadian Tire gift cards bought as Christmas gifts for staff at a community centre where Carole Maisonneuve and her friends hold regular meetings.

But the feeling of thanks turned into embarrassment when the recipients tried to spend their cards and found they’d been drained of money by scammers.

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“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I was the one who’d collected all the money and bought the cards,” Maisonneuve said. “I wondered if they thought I’d been the one who spent them. The sum was not huge, however the issue is a large one.”

Maisonneuve bought the cards at an Orléans grocery store on Nov. 22, picking them off a rack and loading them with cash at the checkout. The gift cards were handed out on Dec. 19. They were found to have been drained in mid-January when the recipients tried to use them.

Some investigating revealed that two of the cards’ balance had been spent on Nov. 25, and the third was used on Jan. 8.