Two Chinese nationals are facing criminal charges in Oakland County for a large-scale fraud scheme where retail gift cards were shoplifted, tampered with, returned to stores and then monitored electronically to steal funds added by unsuspecting customers, officials said.
Guangji Zhang, 46, of Irvine, California, and Huachao Sun, 35, of Los Angeles were arraigned March 7 in 51st District Court in Waterford, each facing one count of conducting a criminal enterprise — a 20-year felony —and two counts of possession of a fraudulent or an altered transaction device, as charged by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Zhang and Sun were arrested at a Dearborn hotel earlier this month, according to the AG’s office.
At their arraignments, bond was set at $250,000. Zhang was released from the Oakland County Jail on March 12; Sun was still in custody as of mid-afternoon Friday.
According to the AG’s office, the cases against the two are built from an investigation initiated by a special agent of the United States Postal Inspection Service after a package determined to be suspicious was found to contain more than 1,500 gift cards and addressed to Zhang and Sun at a hotel in Dearborn.
Officers with the AG’s FORCE team and Michigan State Police detectives but Zhang and Sun under surveillance, allegedly watching them as they visited Meijer stores in White Lake, Waterford, Auburn Hills, Southgate, Allen Park, and Taylor over two days and allegedly placed altered gift cards back on store shelves.
Their hotel room and vehicle were searched, and more than 3,000 gift cards were confiscated in total, the AG’s office said.
Zhang and Sun are due back in 51st District Court on March 18 for a probable cause conference.
The AG’s office has more information on the gift card scam and how to avoid becoming a victim. Access the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovtSBvvIWE&feature=youtu.be.
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