Accused Clinton Credit Card Fraudster Enters Court Plea: Feds

CLINTON, CT — A 22-year-old Bayside, NY man waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty this week to one count of access device fraud in connection with a credit card fraud case that victimized residents of Clinton and other Connecticut communities, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham.

Xiao Bin Xu entered his plea before before Chief U.S. District Janet C. Hall in New Haven, and he faces a potential maximum prison sentence of 10 years.

According to court documents and prosecutors, between July 2014 and April 2015, Xu "was a member of a group of individuals from New York that engaged in counterfeit credit card transactions at retail stores along the East Coast."

The ringleader of the group was Mei Bao Lu and Yang-Shi Lin was Lu’s second-in-command. The investigation began in February 2015 when the Clinton Police Department and other police departments in nearby Connecticut towns received several complaints from citizens about unauthorized charges on their credit and debit cards.

The investigation revealed that many of the complaining citizens had all dined at the same unnamed Clinton restaurant during a two-week period in early February 2015.

As part of the scheme, Lu provided several individuals (“buyers”) with counterfeit credit cards, which had been produced from credit card information skimmed from cardholders, and directed the buyers to purchase gift cards and luxury merchandise using the counterfeit cards. Lu then sold the items to other individuals at a discount in order to be fenced or sold on the black market.

Xu was one of the buyers in the group and also recruited other individuals to serve as buyers. The group engaged in fraudulent credit card transactions at retail stores in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

In total, the group members used 120 counterfeit credit cards, issued by 18 victim financial institutions, to make a total of approximately $179,000 in fraudulent purchases.

Xu, who has been free on bond since his arrest in September 2015, is scheduled to be sentenced by Chief Judge Hall on July 24.

Lu and Lin, both of Flushing, NY, previously pleaded guilty to related charges. In February, Chief Judge Hall sentenced Lin to 12 months and one day in prison, and Lu to 18 months in prison.

Several other members of LU’s group were charged and convicted for credit card related offenses in state and federal courts in Maine, New Jersey, New York, and West Virginia.

This investigation has been conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and the Clinton Police Department.

The U.S. Secret Service, Millburn (N.J.) Police Department, New York Police Department, New York State Police, Acton (Mass.) Police Department, and Barboursville (W. Va.) Police Department assisted with the investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Neeraj N. Patel.

Image via Shutterstock

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