"Arrested: California Duo Charged in Chinese Organized Crime Gift Card Scheme"
Two individuals from California were arrested in Plano for their involvement in a fraudulent gift card scheme, known as "gift card draining," which targeted several North Texas stores. The scam involved obtaining unpurchased gift cards from service kiosks, extracting the card numbers and PIN codes, resealing the cards, and placing them back on the shelves for unsuspecting customers to purchase. The scammers would then drain the prepaid cards of their value. Plano police, in collaboration with the Secret Service and ICE, seized 4,100 tampered Apple gift cards valued at $649,000 in connection to the scheme. Consumers are urged to be vigilant when purchasing gift cards and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.