HAYS COUNTY, Texas — Three people were recently arrested in Central Texas, accused of a gift card tampering scheme that spanned from Austin to Houston, according to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR).
TDLR said a multi-phase investigation involving the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC), Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Hays County District Attorney’s Office and Hays County Proactive Unit resulted in the arrests of Houjie Lin, Yi-Hsun Wu and Hsai Lin and the recovery of 11,563 gift cards. TDLR said based on the total potential value of the recovered cards, authorities estimate the operation prevented approximately $5,699,650 in financial losses to consumers.
According to TDLR, the investigation began in March after FCIC Gulf Coast Field Operations investigators were alerted by a local retailer of suspicious activity. The store employee said they saw a man loitering near the gift card display, and TDLR said a later inspection of the kiosk revealed 15 altered gift cards…