32-year-old Chinese man pleads guilty to possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices in a sophisticated wide-scale gift card scheme, potentially earning him almost two million dollars. Attorney Roger B. Handberg, from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida, has revealed this information. If convicted, the Chinese national could face a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.
Donghui Liao has confessed to stealing gift cards from a major retail store, as stated in the plea agreement. Liao’s modus operandi involved extracting the account details from the back of the gift cards, carefully resealing them in their original packaging, and returning them to a different store location for unsuspecting customers to buy. By doing so, Liao could gain access to the funds loaded onto the gift cards without the customers’ awareness.
On October 17, 2023, a police officer from the Ocala Police Department noticed Liao as he retrieved multiple gift cards from a black shoulder bag he was carrying. Liao proceeded to place the gift cards onto the retailer’s gift card display. Additionally, the officer witnessed Liao taking gift cards from the shelves and discreetly hiding them inside the black bag before leaving the store.
Liao had placed seventy-one gift cards on the shelves, but upon closer inspection, it was discovered that they had been tampered with and forged. Further investigation led to the discovery of an additional 6,032 stolen gift cards in Liao’s vehicle. If these cards were to be purchased and activated by customers, their total value would amount to an astonishing $1.886 million.
Liao was caught on store surveillance footage carrying out the same scheme multiple times across various stores in Ohio, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida in the eastern United States.
The sentencing date has not been scheduled as of now. The Ocala Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation for this case. Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Janette Swartzberg is handling the prosecution.
