New York Men Arrested in South Kingstown for Gift Card Counterfeiting Scheme

Three men from New York—Quanbin Huang, 45, Zhixiong Lu, 46, and Zhongzhen Lin, 36—were arraigned in South Kingstown court on charges of forgery, counterfeiting, and conspiracy related to tampered gift cards.

The arrests began in February when Huang was spotted adding gift cards to a display at a CVS Pharmacy.

After fleeing the scene, police found him in a vehicle with 1,848 altered gift cards and 935 tampered gift cards in the store. In March, Lin was arrested at a Walgreens with 4,387 tampered gift cards.

Authorities believe the men are part of a retail theft ring known for gift card draining, a scheme that involves placing fraudulent barcodes on unsold cards or stealing information from legitimate cards before draining them.

Huang was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond, while Lu and Lin were released on $5,000. The men waived extradition back to New York and will return to court for pretrial conferences in November.

 

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