St. Matthews Police arrest 4 men in connection with gift card scam

Oct 23, 2024

Four men are facing felony charges after being arrested Saturday for tampering with gift cards at a Kroger in the St. Matthews neighborhood.

According to court records obtained by The Courier Journal, the two incidents resulted in the seizure of more than 1,000 tampered gift cards, resulting in what the St. Matthew's Police Department estimate to exceed $1 million in missing funds. Here's what we know and how to avoid gift card scams.

Four men — 40-year-old Chaoming Lin, of California; 47-year-old Zhiqiang Huang, of California; 42-year-old Huixing Yu, of New York; and 35-year-old Tianlong Chen, of New York — were arrested Saturday by the St. Matthews Police Department. Lin faces 999 charges of criminal possession of a forged instrument to the first degree while Huang faces charges of engaging in organized crime and faces a $50,000 cash bond. Huang's preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Oct. 29.

St. Matthews Police were first called to the Kroger location in the 200 block of North Hubbards Lane on reports of a man placing altered gift cards on the gift card rack. The man, later identified as Lin, then got into a black Toyota Corolla with another man, later identified as Huang and left the scene. Police conducted a traffic stop shortly after in the area of Westport Road just after 11:30 a.m.

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After both were arrested, officers searched their vehicle and found 1,000 altered gift cards, which was "only a fraction" of the total seized, according to court documents. The agency estimates scams exceed amounts of $1 million and 15 gift cards placed at Kroger were taken and submitted as evidence.

Later that day just before 5 p.m., St. Matthews Police responded to the Kroger on calls of a man placing altered gift cards in the store. He then got into a black Dodge Charger with another man in the car and was stopped by officers in the area of Westport Road and Interstate 265.

The two men, identified as Chen and Yu, were found with more than 600 gift cards from several stores. Chen and Yu are each charged with one count of engaging in organized crime, one count of second-degree fleeing or evading police and one count of first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument.

According to the arrest citation, the men would open gift cards at retailers to obtain the numbers before resealing them and placing them back on store shelves. They would then wait for the gift cards to be purchased and activated, and electronically take the funds from the gift card accounts.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, some ways to be cautious and avoid gift card scams include sticking to trusted brands instead of online auction-type sites, inspecting the gift card before purchasing by looking for protective stickers and making sure the PIN is hidden and keeping copies of the gift card and store receipt in case a fraud report is needed.

The Federal Trade Commission recommends that consumers affected by gift card scams report the incident to the gift card's company immediately, asking for a refund from the company and filing a fraud report with the agency.