West Michigan man ordered to forfeit computer, $630K in cash and cryptocurrency after Meijer mPerks scam

(WWJ) — A young West Michigan man has pleaded guilty to a massive cyber theft scheme that caused at least a $1 million corporate loss for Meijer.

Nicholas Mui of Grand Haven was charged last December on charges of conducting a criminal enterprise, using a computer to commit a crime and identity theft.

On Tuesday Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the 22-year-old pleaded guilty to conducting a criminal enterprise earlier this week for what she called “the systemic theft and sale of account access information tied to mPerks accounts.”

As part of his plea, Mui will be ordered to forfeit his computer tower and approximately $630,000 in frozen cryptocurrency and cash. It was not immediately clear whether Mui will face other punishments, including possible prison time.

Nessel’s office says Mui accessed login credentials to Meijer’s mPerks loyalty program and then sold them on the internet for “the wrongful use of buyers.”

The mPerks incentive program allows customers to accrue store-credit points into their individual accounts by making purchases at the grocer. The points accrued can be used as cash-value towards purchases.

Meijer customers and mPerks account holders had their mPerks accounts compromised, login credentials sold online, and their accrued purchase points stolen and used fraudulently, Nessel’s office says.

Authorities have previously said Mui obtained login credentials from a separate data breach — reportedly the app MyFitnessPal — and then cross-referenced those credentials for access success with the mPerks infrastructure. He then allegedly sold those login credentials on the internet and the purchasers of the login credentials then used the points balance to fund their own purchases from Meijer, with incidents documented in both online and in-store purchases.

Hundreds of customers impacted by the scam have since had their accrued points reinstated, with Meijer’s total corporate losses currently believed to exceed $1 million.

Meijer first got word of the alleged scheme last April and May when they started getting complaints from customers that their points were vanishing. An investigation conducted by the AG’s FORCE Team, Meijer corporate investigators and the Michigan State Police Fraud Investigation Section eventually led them to Mui.

“I commend the hard work and dedication of the FORCE team, Michigan State Police, and Meijer that led to this conviction,” Nessel said, per a press release. “Their complex investigation has been instrumental in securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and safeguarding a loyalty program used by many across our state.”

Mui is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 5.

More on today's top stories: