The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC) said March 23 that a recent arrest in Amarillo involved two individuals who are connected to a massive gift card fraud scheme spanning Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.
As previously reported, police said more than 40 cases had been linked to this activity, including a recent arrest in Dallas involving more than 400 fraudulent cards.
The FCIC said the fraud pertains to gift card cloning, which involves criminals stealing not yet activated gift cards from store shelves, copying the card’s hidden number, and resealing the package before returning it to the display. Once a customer purchases and activates the card, the criminals are alerted and quickly drain the balance before the consumer can use it, FCIC said…