Conservatives ban pre-paid credit cards after Poilievre camp warns of membership ‘fraud’

The Conservative Party reversed its position on pre-paid credit cards after the Poilievre camp suggested they could be used to fraudulently buy memberships – and eligible voters.

The Conservative Party is moving to ban the use of pre-paid credit cards to purchase memberships after Pierre Poilievre warned they could be used to fraudulently buy the leadership.

The party quickly reversed its position on the use of pre-paid credit cards Thursday, after the Poilievre camp demanded they be banned and the party cancel any memberships purchased with them since Feb. 2.

“The party (and the Conservative Fund) will not be accepting pre-paid cards for membership or donations for this leadership race,” wrote Wayne Benson, the party’s executive director, in a memo to leadership campaigns obtained by Global News.

Benson said the party will be cancelling memberships purchased with pre-paid cards back to Feb. 2, as the Poilievre camp demanded.

“Soon we will be issuing instructions to campaigns on a collaborative plan to resolve legitimate memberships that are cancelled as a result of this retroactive change.”

It was a major reversal for the party, which on Monday told the leadership campaigns that it would continue to accept pre-paid cards. Benson gave no reason in his memo for the reversal.

Reached for comment Thursday evening, Benson told Global News he had nothing to add to the memo.

On Tuesday, Global News reported that the Poilievre campaign sent a lawyer’s letter to Conservative Party brass warning about potential membership fraud through the use of pre-paid credit cards.