How does AmEx know you bought a gift card? When you buy gift cards they are coded differently than general merchandise? What if I bought a gift card and an actual item on the same receipt? I'm not trying to manufacture spending, rather I want to purchase later in the future and a gift card will allow me to do that. If AmEx claws back my bonus points do you think that reasoning will fly with AmEx? I'm guessing AmEx is concerned about manufactured spending and that's why they outlawed buying gift cards to meet min spend.

Btw, why is PayPal not allowing the purchase of gift cards? Why would they care what you bought using PayPal??