However, the very same regulation that made traditional banking products more costly for consumers also exempted prepaid gift cards from the same caps on interchange fees (to avoid affecting government aid programs which disburse funds via prepaid cards) while simultaneously preventing large banks from offering such cards to prevent them from “gaming” the exemption. According to an article by the Associated Press, which details the popularity of gift cards for money laundering, there are a variety of money laundering schemes where prepaid gift cards are used. However, as the popularity of pre-paid gift cards continues to grow along with the potential for abuse, FinCEN will likely try to issue rules to combat the use of prepaid gift cards in money laundering schemes.