Three men have been arrested in Dallas, Texas, for allegedly orchestrating a $14 million gift card fraud scheme that involved stealing and cloning hundreds of cards from retail stores across the state.
According to News4SanAntonio, the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center took Kristians Petrovikis, Romunds Cubrevics, and Nurmunds Ulevicus into custody after discovering more than 400 cloned gift cards in their possession.
How the Gift Card Cloning Scheme Worked
Authorities said that the suspects stole gift cards from multiple retail stores, carefully opened the packaging, and recorded the electronic numbers printed on the cards. They would then reseal the packaging and return the cards to the store racks as if they had not been handled.
The scam relied on unsuspecting customers who later purchased the compromised cards and loaded them with money — allowing the suspects to access the funds remotely before the buyers could spend them…