Thousands Of Stolen Gift Cards Lead To Charges In Braintree

BRAINTREE, MA — Police officers charged two people in what they are calling a "gift card scam ring" in Braintree.

On Monday, Braintree police were alerted that two women were removing gift cards from the display rack at CVS on Grove Street, officials said.

Officers found the suspect vehicle and eventually discovered four bags full of Apple, Nike, Sephora and Visa gift cards. In total, they recovered 4,617 cards, police said.

YanYan Liu and Na Dong, both of Flushing, New York, were placed under arrest and charged with shoplifting and receiving stolen property.

Police said the scam is currently happening across the country, and involves people taking the gift cards then logging the card numbers, bar codes and corresponding PINs.

Then, police said, scammers repackage the cards and place them back on display shelves in stores.

"When an unsuspecting customer selects the compromised gift card and loads it with funds at the register, criminals are regularly running these cards and PIN #’s through a database looking to spend the funds presumably online before the gift recipient does," police said.