Gift card scams prosecutions

Police arrested three people and seized around $500,000 worth of fraudulent gift cards they allege were doctored in a “sophisticated forgery lab.”

The Department of Justice indicted four individuals for their alleged role in a gift card scam that involved over 5,000 cards. The defendants allegedly took the cards obtained through scams and used them at stores or exchanged them for other gift cards.

Five Staten Island residents that pleaded guilty to a $1 million Apple gift card scam were ordered to pay $60,000 in restitution, along with significant jail time for two. The scam unfolded over several months in 2021 before investigators seized hundreds of thousands in cash, gift cards and Apple products. 

Federal prosecutors brought a case against two men that they said stole more than $500,000 in Walmart gift cards through a romance scam. Over a month, the two allegedly stole almost 1,700 gift cards.

Police arrested a woman in Plano, Texas who prosecutors claimed was a part of a $4 million gift card scam ring. Police said the woman redeemed cards worth $740,000.