Halton Regional Police have charged two men from Mississauga following their alleged involvement in a significant gift card scam that stretched from the Niagara Region to Barrie. The investigation into this illegal operation began after an incident occurred in December 2025 at a Walmart Supercentre in Burlington, where one of the suspects drew the attention of authorities.
According to a police release, the investigation was initiated when an unidentified male was observed removing gift cards from his pockets and placing them onto a retail display rack. The individual was subsequently seen selecting additional gift cards, concealing them, and exiting the store without making any attempt to activate or purchase the cards at the point of sale.
Police investigators allege that the suspect would monitor the compromised gift cards he had replaced on the racks, waiting for unsuspecting customers to activate them. Once funds were loaded onto these cards, it is alleged that the suspect would redeem their balances online, purchasing items before the actual purchasers could use them.
In March 2026, the Financial Crimes Unit initiated Project Reload, a probe triggered by the male’s suspected role in a broader scheme that spanned multiple areas of Ontario, including Halton, Hamilton, Brantford, Niagara, Toronto, Peel, Durham, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, York, and Barrie.
Investigators successfully identified the suspect and located a suspect vehicle. Ongoing surveillance revealed that the man was systematically placing gift cards on retail display racks at various locations. As the investigation continued, police seized a quantity of these gift cards, and for evidentiary purposes, the cards were loaded with varying monetary values. In April 2026, authorities confirmed that funds from several of the monitored cards had been redeemed, leading to further discoveries that the suspect used these cards to purchase a range of goods.
On May 12, 2026, police executed three search warrants in Mississauga, resulting in the arrest of two suspects and the seizure of a substantial haul of items. Authorities recovered a 2012 BMW X3 SUV along with 5,700 prepaid gift cards, which presented a total at-risk loss of over $1 million. Additionally, they seized 137 bottles of alcohol valued at over $11,000, four mobile phones, a MacBook, and two laptops.
In total, law enforcement recovered $700 in counterfeit currency, along with 487 packs of Belmont cigarettes, each containing 20 cigarettes, amounting to over $8,000 in value. High-end watches, jewelry, sunglasses, various perfumes, and instruments used for tampering and forgery were also found, along with several pellet guns, including a black Sig Sauer P226 pellet gun and a C8 style pellet rifle.
The accused suspects, Giorgi Khandolishvili, 48, and Jevgenij Piskunov, 40, now face a multitude of charges. These include fraud over $5,000, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, forgery, and possession of instruments of forgery. The case highlights the ongoing efforts of law enforcement agencies to tackle sophisticated fraud schemes that exploit unsuspecting consumers.
