SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A man was arrested recently after Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office detectives allegedly saw him switch out tampered gift cards with real gift cards.
According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, it happened during their retail theft operation, "Operation Bad Elf."
Deputies say they saw Ningning Sun put all the gift cards on a rack inside his jacket and then replace them with a set of nearly identical ones. As they stopped him, they found he had more than 5,000 Apple and Target gift cards on him.
The sheriff’s office says its investigation found Sun was part of a scam that tampers with the gift cards, scans the bar code and steals the money off them as it’s loaded on. They say the operation was nationwide.
Shoppers are asked to pay close attention when buying gift cards. Look for signs they’ve been tampered with like a scuff or scratch mark near the bar code.
Detectives believe Sun has done the same thing at other stores and are asking for help in potentially linking him to other cases. Anyone with information can call the sheriff’s office at 916-874-5115.
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