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Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office: GIFT CARD SCAM AND ARREST 2023.12.7……【Press】【U.S.】During our recent retail theft Operation Bad Elf, detectives observed an individual, later identified as Ningning Sun, acting suspiciously near the gift cards in the payment aisles in a Sacramento Target store. Detectives observed him placing all the gift cards inside his jacket, then replacing the gift cards on the rack with another set of seemingly identical ones. After Sun was stopped trying to exit the store with the stolen gift cards, detectives discovered over 5000 gift cards from Target and Apple in his possession.
Their investigation revealed Sun was part of a scam that tampered with gift cards, scanned the bar code, and stole money from the gift card as money was loaded on them. Victims are completely unaware it is happening, and the money is often siphoned to an off-shore account within seconds. Their investigation revealed that the operation spanned across California and several regions nationwide.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office urges residents to be cautious when purchasing physical gift cards from any retailer. Be observant of any signs of tampering, especially scuff marks or scratches near the bar code on the back of the card. These operations are very sophisticated and modifications to the gift cards are often virtually undetectable, even to the trained eye. Detectives suspect Sun has done this at many stores and are requesting the public’s help to potentially link him to other crimes.
➤【美国】萨克拉门托县治安官办公室称,一名男子因在 Target 商店篡改礼品卡而在加利福尼亚州被捕。
周三,孙宁宁在治安官为期一周的“坏精灵行动”中被捕,该行动的目标是整个萨克拉门托县的零售盗窃案。警方称,孙宁宁拥有超过 5,000 张 Target 和 Apple 礼品卡。
据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻报道,这些卡片被追踪到全州 12 个县的 54 家 Target 商店。调查人员认为,从洛杉矶到湾区和中央谷,全州塔吉特百货的货架上可能仍存有数千张欺诈性礼品卡。
目前尚不清楚孙是否有律师。
萨克拉门托治安官办公室表示,孙被捕前曾在萨克拉门托 Target 商店的支付通道中的礼品卡附近行为可疑。“侦探们观察到他将所有礼品卡放在夹克内的架子上,然后用另一套看似相同的礼品卡替换了礼品卡。” 孙在带着偷来的礼品卡试图离开商店时遇到了质问。
治安官办公室表示,他们的调查显示,Sun 参与了横跨加州和全国其他几个地区的礼品卡诈骗。该骗局涉及篡改扫描礼品卡上的条形码并窃取其中的金额
治安官办公室表示:“受害者完全没有意识到事情正在发生,钱往往在几秒钟内就被转移到离岸账户。”
当局已向那些从零售商处购买礼品卡的人发出警告,并建议他们在购买时要小心谨慎,并观察是否有任何被篡改的迹象,例如卡背面条形码附近的磨损痕迹或划痕。
治安官办公室表示:“这些操作非常复杂,即使对受过训练的人来说,对礼品卡的修改通常也几乎无法察觉。”
治安官办公室还建议完全避免购买礼品卡。
与此同时,塔吉特在一份声明中表示,他们已经意识到这些骗局,并非常严肃地对待它们。