Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CENTERVILLE — Centerville police say four men believed to be Chinese nationals have been arrested for a credit card scam that racked up more than $50,000 in illegal charges.
The suspects are accused of taking the American Express account number from a business's credit card, then making a duplicate card with one of the suspect's names on it.
Lt. Paul Child of the Centerville Police Department says the men used the phony card at Target stores from Las Vegas to Centerville.
"Being a corporate card, it obviously has a little higher limit than you or I have on our card," he pointed out. "But no one is safe from this type of thing. If you've got a card, the potential is there for this type of thing to happen.
Child says the men bought iPads and pre-paid Visa gift cards at several locations, beginning in Las Vegas and continuing throughout Utah.
Target stores had been notified of the men making large purchases throughout the state. The Centerville store called police around 9 p.m. Monday after noticing four Asian men purchasing several $500 gifts cards, for a total of $7,000, with an American Express card.
The suspects left the store, but police stopped their minivan after it made an illegal turn. Investigators found gift cards and large amounts of cash in the van. They also found an American Express card bearing the name of one of the Asian men, but the card number belonged to Cannon Technology of Great Britain. It had been issued to one of its employees who had recently been to Florida on a business trip.
American Express says the total amount illegally charged to the stolen account is between $50,000 and $60,000.
The following suspects were booked into the Davis County Jail on charges of unlawful acquisition of a credit card:
- Yazhen Li, age 26, of San Gabriel, Calif.
- Zheng Yuan, age 25, unknown residence
- Mingyu Jin, age 21, of Monterey Park, Calif.
- Chenglong Kong, age 23, unknown residence
