Narragansett Police Arrest 2 From NY In Connection To Gift Card Scam

NARRAGANSETT, RI — Two New York residents were arrested Thursday in Narragansett after police said they were caught with thousands of gift cards in connection to a scam.

Zhongzhen Lin, 36, and Chaoyang Lin, 26, both of Brooklyn, New York, were charged with forgery and counterfeiting, obtaining property by false pretenses, and conspiracy.

On Thursday, Narragansett patrol officers saw suspicious activity outside the Walgreen's on Woodruff Avenue and stopped two people, later identified as Zhongzhen Lin and Chaoyang Lin. Police said they searched their vehicle and found 4,387 gift cards that had been tampered with.

According to police, Lin and Lin tampered with gift cards inside the store. Police said the two suspects are believed to be involved in an organized gift card tampering scheme that involves tampering with gift card packages to steal sensitive information, and then placing the gift cards back on the rack of retail stores to be sold to customers.

Police said tampering enables money to be stolen at a later date when the compromised gift cards are activated at a point of sale. Arrests in connection with similar scams have been made recently in Bristol and South Kingstown.

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