(WXYZ) — Two men have been charged with stealing thousands of altered gift cards from metro Detroit Meijer stores.
According to the Michigan Attorney General's Office, the two Chinese nationals – Guangji Zhang, 46, of Irvine, California, and Huachao Sun, 35, of Los Angeles, were charged with one count of Conducting a Criminal Enterprise and two counts of Possession of a Fraudulent or Altered Transaction Device.
It's alleged the two conducted a large-scale fraud scheme that involved stealing empty, unsold gift cards from stores and getting their information before returning the gift cards back to be purchased by others.
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According to the AG's office, here's how the scam works. The two would steal empty, unsold gift cards from retail stores. They would then reveal their unique redemption numbers and record them.
The scammers then would conceal the redemption numbers again with adhesive to appear they hadn't been tampered with, and return the gift cards to the store.
Then, they would use computer programs to monitor when any card is activated with a balance of funds. As soon as it's activated, the scammer is able to transfer the balance into another digital account. Then, when the gift card is given and redeemed, it is already depleted.
According to the AG's office, the investigation was initiated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service after a package deemed to be suspicious was found to contain more than 1,500 gift cards addressed to the two defendants at a hotel in Dearborn.
The FORCE Team, with detectives from MSP, surveilled the suspects who allegedly visited Meijer stores in White Lake, Waterford, Auburn Hills, Southgate, Allen Park and Taylor over two days and placed the gift cards back among store stock.
It's believed the men had more than 3,000 gift cards when they were arrested.
“Sophisticated fraud schemes undermine consumer trust and can cause significant financial harm, and I am proud of my FORCE Team for their efforts to shut down these operations and hold bad actors accountable,” Nessel said in a statement. “They will continue to pursue and prosecute those who engage in scams targeting Michigan residents and businesses. I urge everyone to stay alert and be cautious when buying gift cards. Taking a few extra moments to check for tampering can save you from becoming a victim.”
