Hundreds of gift cards stolen from Lee’s Summit store in scam investigation

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. — According to a probable cause statement, on Sept.12, a man identified as Daowang Lin was seen allegedly stealing from a business on SW Ward Rd in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.

“Security inside of one of the local grocery stores had noticed a suspicious person. I think what they believed is that the person was stealing gift cards off the rack. Security had interrupted them as they were returning gift cards to the rack. Our thieves had done in this case, is they had literally taken the gift cards off the racks in bulk,” Sgt. Chris Depue with the Lee’s Summit Police Department shared.

“They meticulously peeled back the cardboard, as well as scratched off the number, and then meticulously placed the number back on with a coding and glued the cardboard back down.”

Once the consumer buys the card and loads money on the card, Depue says the money is instantly transferred off the card and the card is then useless.

According to the probable cause statement, Lin was placed into custody for stealing and after a search, it was discovered he had 23 gift cards on him, in their original packaging, in his shorts.

“A further review of the 23 gift cards recovered from Lin’s person after leaving the store showed the packaging had been tampered. The cards inside each package were not the original cards. They were altered, which is consistent with the “stealing process previously reported,” court documents reveal.

The Better Business Bureau shares what to look for, if you purchase gift cards in-store:

“We generally have an assumption a card wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t legitimate, and while that might be true 99 percent of the time, there’s always that one percent,” Josh Planos, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Better Business Bureau said.  “You look for stickers covering bar codes. Use your finger, run your finger to run over the back over the barcode. Check for rips and tears in the packaging.”

“Gift card scams are nothing new for us,” Sgt. Depue said. “The best way to tell that something is a scam, regardless of the information they give you, is the method of payment. If someone tells you tell to pay them in a green dot money card, an Apple gift card, an Amazon gift card, but they are the gas company, the electric company, court, or the IRS, that’s your clue that it’s a scam. The key is method of payment.”

After officers searched Lin’s car, they found another near 700+ gift cards, all were recovered as evidence.

“Once that number has been pulled off the back of the card, that is the security feature of that card to keep that money in your possession. If there is any indication that the card has been compromised, opened or that number has been scratched, I’d ask for another card,” Depue said on tips when purchasing gift cards.

The value of the gift cards recovered in Lin’s shorts was estimated to be $4,570. Gift cards recovered from his car totaled $188, 200.

“The investigation is ongoing, and we will look to see if there are other retailers have been a victim and if this has connections to even outside of our own state or metro area,” Depue shared.

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