Latvian nationals in the United States illegally were arrested in Texas for running an alleged $14 million gift card fraud scheme throughout several states.
All three men allegedly illegally migrated to the United States from Eastern Europe and had been stealing gift cards from roughly ten stores a day, seven days a week, going back to May of this year.
”The card is removed, and then the material on the back that covers up the numbers to transfer anything or activate the card is then removed so that they can see it,” FCIC Director Adam Colby said. “The numbers that are on the card are then programmed into another program that the criminals are using, which will now monitor that card.”
The alleged scammers would then reassemble the cards to appear new before placing them back on the shelves for someone to buy, so they could collect the money at purchase.
”As soon as it is activated and money placed onto that card, the criminals are now aware of it, but they now have the ability to transfer the money off of that card and onto another card where it is then cashed out or used to buy high-end merchandise,” said Colby.
The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC) arrested Kristians Petroviskis, Romunds Cubrevics, and Nurmunds Ulevicus for their alleged involvement in the scheme, per Fox News. All three suspects were reportedly in the United States illegally.
“At the time of their arrest, authorities allegedly found more than 400 gift cards on them, authorities said. The trio targeted stores in multiple cities, including Dallas, Houston and San Antonio,” noted Fox News.
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