DETROIT – On March 7, Guangji Zhang and Huachao Sun were charged with two counts of possessing a fake or changed transaction device and operating a criminal enterprise.
Authorities claim that the guys would take unsold, empty gift cards from retailers, note the redemption numbers on the cards, hide the tampering, and then give the cards back to the retailers. They allegedly used computer programs to track when these cards were activated and move the loaded money to their own online accounts, depleting the gift cards when they were used by unwary receivers.
When the United States Postal Inspection Service discovered a box containing over 1,500 gift cards addressed to the two guys in a Dearborn hotel, the investigation got underway.
As the two men allegedly replaced the tampered gift cards at Meijer locations in White Lake, Waterford, Auburn Hils, Southgate, Allen Park, and Taylor, law enforcement followed them.
More than 3,000 gift cards were found during a search of the two men’s car and hotel room after they were taken into custody on March 5.
March 18 is the date of the probable cause conference for the two guys.
