I recently heard of a way to accrue miles by buying gift cards. The plan is basically free and seems to be perfectly legal. I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about or tried it - here it is:

Card holders use their rewards credit cards to purchase gift cards at Charter One, in person, online or by phone. Once they receive the gift card, they use it to pay for a money order from their post office. Charter One's gift cards work like a Mastercard debit card. Next, they either deposit the money order right into their checking account or cash it and use the cash to pay bills.

I have heard that a growing number of people are doing this and though I do not plan to do it myself, I am curious to see if anyone can add any insight about what this may mean for individual frequent flyers and the airline programs.