> According to Grubbs, there was only one way out: my dad had to convert the money to “government certified gift vouchers,” or gift cards.

Yes it is.

My understanding is that the father was paying off a corrupt individual agent, not making payment to any government agency.

Isn't that just as ridiculous of a notion? A DEA agent shaking down an identify theft victim for Target gift cards, calling from a government phone? It's a hell of a yarn, no matter how you read it.

No? You're saying that someone shouldn't have believed that one kind of scam was happening, because only the other kind of scam is real. That's a much more subtle distinction than just "payment in gift cards is a scam". It also doesn't seem like a thing that can really be supported with definitive evidence or authoritative decree.