2 men arrested in Fairfax Co. for ‘fraud ring’ involving altered gift cards

Valerie Bonk | vbonk@wtop.com
December 28, 2023, 1:14 PM



Gift cards stolen as part of a "fraud ring" in Virginia. (Courtesy Fairfax County police)

Two men were arrested and charged for altering gift cards at two Target stores in Virginia as part of a “complex fraud ring” according to Fairfax County police.

Police were contacted by the Target store in the Springfield Town Center about two men who they believed were altering gift cards in their store on Dec. 20, according to a Thursday news release from police.

Target said that the same men were seen altering gift cards earlier in the day at a Target store in Manassas, according officers from the Franconia Police District.

Rongjie He, 32, and Kaihua Chen, 27, both of California, were arrested by police while stocking the cards and both were in possession of altered Target gift cards, police said.

The men are suspected of linking the cards to an outside account that takes the money from a “would-be buyer” and deposits the funds into fraudulent accounts instead of the buyer’s account, police said.

Police said they searched the vehicle that the suspects were driving and found just under 1,000 altered gift cards and “evidence of a larger fraud ring in the region and extending into states across the country.”

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LOCAL CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY

Gift card ‘draining’ scam hits Target store in Virginia, police say

By Steve Thompson
December 27, 2023 at 7:27 p.m. EST

In a “be on the lookout” bulletin issued to Target employees by loss-prevention staffers, two men were pictured. Then, shortly before Christmas, according to court records, the two showed up at a Target store in Springfield, Va. A Fairfax County police officer, responding to a call, arrived at the store and saw the men hanging dozens of altered gift cards on a rack. ... A search of the men’s vehicle turned up hundreds more gift cards, police said. Officers confiscated nearly a thousand in all.

The men are accused in a scam that has been reported across the country recently. Often called “card draining,” the theft involves criminals who steal gift cards from stores, alter them or obtain their information, then put them back on store racks. When a shopper buys one and it is activated, the balance is quickly drained. ... “We are aware of the prevalence of gift card tampering and take this issue very seriously,” Target spokeswoman Kayla Castañeda said in a statement. She said it is an industry-wide problem that victimizes and inconveniences shoppers. Target staffers are asked to monitor the gift card racks and regularly inspect cards for signs of tampering, she said.

The men spotted in the Springfield store on Dec. 20 had been seen earlier that day in a Target store in Manassas, police said. After the men were arrested, investigators determined they had put 280 gift cards on the rack, according to court records. The cards had their codes scratched off, meaning that if someone had bought and activated one, the amount would have gone to the account of the suspects.

Rongjie He, 32, of California, was charged with multiple felony counts of obtaining money by false pretense, credit card theft and conspiracy to commit larceny, police said. He was taken to a Fairfax County detention center and later released on bond. ...Kaihua Chen, 27, also of California, was charged with multiple felony counts of obtaining money by false pretense, credit card theft and conspiracy to commit larceny. He was still being held Wednesday.

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By Steve Thompson
Steve Thompson writes about government and politics in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. Before joining The Washington Post in 2018, he was an investigative reporter for the Dallas Morning News. He started in journalism as a police reporter at the St. Petersburg Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/stevesthompson