Niiganfu NatsuConcord police recently arrested three Chinese Americans, two of whom were native-born, on suspicion of stealing gift cardsNew York CityThey stole unused gift cards, recorded the card numbers and other information, then restored them to their original state and placed them back in the store. After customers purchased cards and recharged them, the suspects used the card credits to purchase expensive electronic products and then resold them; Police said that an Asian person could be behind this. Criminal gang involved in multi-million dollar gift card fraud.

According to Concord police, the group stole hundreds or even thousands of inactive gift cards, recorded card numbers, PINs and other information, repackaged or repackaged the gift cards, returned them to stores and sold them. Rearranged on the shelves. When a customer purchases and top-up a gift card at checkout, a group that monitors all gift card numbers around the clock will immediately notice that a balance has been added to the card and all The information will be transferred to another group of suspects so they can use it. Buy electronic products or other expensive items, such as Apple tablets, cellphones and computers, were resold by a third group of suspects who used 12 or more gift cards in a single transaction.

According to the report, the target andwal-mart(Walmart) gift cards are the main target of this ring, with victims throughout the United States; And the criminal gang is composed primarily of Asians, who are usually strangers to each other, communicate via chat software, and live mostly in California and New York.

Concord police began the investigation after noticing a significant increase in this type of crime since last year’s holiday season. On December 28, 2023, police received a report from an Alabama man who said a gift card he purchased was supposed to be used at a Walmart in Concord, but the user was not him. Police then worked with store employees to locate a Mercedes sedan with New York license plates.

Walmart learned from the files that the man’s name was Mingdong Chen (the following names are all transliterations). Based on license plate data, police determined that Chen Mingdong was 28 years old and lived in New York City, and arrested him the next day in the same Walmart parking lot.

Chen Mingdong told police through a translator that he came to the United States eight years ago and visited New Hampshire a total of five times because the state had no sales tax. Her main task was to use the gift card to buy apples for herself. upline.” tablets and other products; then he brought the items back to New York and shipped them to China, and received 10 yuan for each device purchased. He only communicated with his “upline” through WeChat and other Didn’t know the identity of the party.

While investigating Chen Mingdong, police found messages on his mobile phone that pointed to an apartment in Nashua, that state. They went to investigate and found a large number of Apple electronic devices, cash, and a computer program that ran gift card numbers. in real time.

Naxin Wu, a 25-year-old Chinese woman who lived in New York City, lived in the apartment. Police seized 24 iPhones hidden in a dresser in the bedroom, 50 iPhones in the closet, a Google phone and accounts. and 27,750 yuan cash. Later, based on surveillance video, police also learned that Wu Naxin made fraudulent purchases at several Walmarts in New Hampshire.

The computer in the apartment running the gift card number program belonged to Mengming Jiang, a 33-year-old Chinese who lived in Nashua. While police were searching the apartment, the international express company UPS delivered 15 packages, almost all of which were Apple phones. The courier said he delivered packages to the apartment four times a day, mostly Apple products.

At present, Chen Mingdong and Jiang Mengying have both been charged with organized retail crime enterprise and theft by deception with the intent to redistribute stolen goods, and have been detained in local prisons; Wu Naxin has been accused of transfer fraud. Theft by fraudulent resale distribution is a felony punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted. The three men’s bail has been set at NT$500,000 and will appear in local court in April and May.

New York (TagstoTranslate) Walmart (T) New Hampshire (T) New York City