SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — Police arrested two New York men accused of stealing and tampering thousands of gift cards from various stores across the state.
Quanbin Huang, 45 and Zhixiong Lu, 46, have each been charged with forgery and counterfeiting, obtaining property by false pretenses and conspiracy.
South Kingstown Police Chief Matthew Moynihan said officers responded to the CVS Pharmacy on Main Street Wednesday after an employee spotted a man adding gift cards to a store display.
Moynihan said that, when the employee confronted the man, he ran out of the store and hopped into a vehicle waiting in a neighboring parking lot.
Officers later tracked that vehicle to Route 1 North and pulled it over just before it entered North Kingstown.
Moynihan said the men were taken into custody and charged after the officers found three boxes containing 1,848 altered gift cards. Officers also found 935 gift cards at the pharmacy which appeared to be tampered with.
Huang and Lu are believed to be involved in an intentional retail theft ring that practices “gift card draining.”