In another incident highlighting weaknesses underlying the fiat system, it took the Volusia County Sheriff's Department in Florida 7 months to investigate an operation they allege used gift cards to launder value derived from stolen retail merchandise (archived). The Sheriff's Department alleges that Cash for Gift Card stores operated by a father and his adult son knowingly sent thieves to steal from retail stores and return the merchandise in exchange for gift cards. The Cash for Gift Card stores were alleged to buy these gift cards at half their face value and then resell them in bulk on the Internet. How the Sheriff's department supposes the thieves were enlisted by Cash for Gift Card as opposed to self motivated is unknown at this time. There is however no ambiguity that there exists an extraordinary number of places where the fiat system leaks value big and small, online and offline.