I know we're all harping on the Somalis right now, but don't forget the Latvians!
Yep, three Latvian men in the U.S. illegally were arrested for a $14 million gift card fraud in Texas.
Kristians Petroviskis, Romunds Cubrevics, and Nurmunds Ulevicus (I love how the news anchor in the above video struggled to say those names 😂) stole numerous unactivated gift cards from retailers and cloned them.
First, they scratched off the security foil on the back and record the numbers of the cards then they run those numbers through a program that tracks the card's activation status. Finally, somehow, they repackaged the cards with all new scratchy foil over the numbers and slipped them back on the shelves at the store.
‘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 Adam Colby, director of the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC).​
The group had over 400 gift cards in their possession at the time of their arrest.
Colby says that the only way a customer can be certain they've not picked up a fraudulent card is to scratch off the foil and check the balance.
‘Unfortunately, most people are going to give it as a gift, and they don't want to scratch it off to see what's on there,' said Colby. ‘Beyond that, there really isn't that much you can do other than to be vigilant.'
The Latvians have been charged with the fraudulent possession of gift cards, a new first-degree felony just introduced in Texas this year.
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