BRAINTREE — Two women were arrested Monday for their alleged involvement in a widespread gift card scam after police found them with thousands of gift cards from various retailers.
Braintree police officers responded to a call at the local CVS on Grove Street on Dec. 11, where two Asian females were reported to be removing gift cards from the display rack.
The suspects, identified as YanYan Liu and Na Dong of Flushing, New York, were later located in their vehicle along with four bags full of gift cards from Apple, Nike, Sephora, and Visa.
In total, 4,617 cards were recovered.
Liu and Dong were charged with shoplifting and receiving stolen property.
Authorities described the scam as one involving criminals who steal gift cards from stores, record the card numbers, barcodes, and PINs hidden under security stickers, and then repackage and return the cards to store shelves.
Unsuspecting customers who purchase and load these tampered cards with money are often unaware that scammers are quickly draining the funds using the stolen card information.
The scam is currently affecting numerous retailers across the country, leaving many gift card users with little to no funds when they attempt to use their cards.
