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LAYTON — A 59-year-old man was charged Thursday after police say he was caught swapping 100 gift cards with altered ones at two Smith's grocery stores in Layton and Kaysville as part of an alleged sophisticated fraud scheme.
Ziping Lin went into a Smith's in Kaysville on Aug. 4 and, according to the investigating Layton police officer, "While at the gift card rack, a store employee watched Lin replacing gift cards. This was odd. These were cards that appeared new."
Charging documents say Lin, a Chinese national with no known address, had taken and altered gift cards from Visa, Mastercard, Apple, Lululemon, Sephora, Amazon and others.
It was part of a scheme to funnel money that customers believe was going toward gift cards they purchased into Lin's hands, the police say.
"The scratch-off security stickers covering the sensitive card identification information had been carefully removed, the card identification information copied, some of that information then altered or defaced (some numerical digits were scratched off), the security stickers then replaced, and the cards made to look as though they were new so that they could be hung again on the rack at Smith's for customers to purchase," according to court documents.
Once purchased, customers would have been unable to access the funds loaded in the cards.
A store manager saw what was happening, took pictures of Lin and confronted him, police said. However, Lin fled before police arrived, making his way to a Smith's Marketplace in Layton, court documents say.
Employees at surrounding stores had been alerted to potential fraudulent activity in the area, so workers quickly recognized when Lin began swapping cards at the Layton location, police say. Officers were called and arrested Lin at that location, the police booking affidavit states.
"When police went to detain Lin in Layton, he pulled away from them and attempted to flee. He then put on a show of a medical emergency, rolling around on the ground and groaning," charging documents say. "Medical personnel could not identify any emergency, and when police found a Mandarin interpreter, his charade ceased."
The man had entered the country illegally through San Diego in August 2023, despite being detained and flagged by border patrol, according to the charges.
Between the two stores, Lin allegedly swapped a total of 100 altered gift cards and was in possession of 32 more. The total value of those cards was between $3,120 and $31,150, depending on how much customers decided to load the cards with, police say.
In an interview after his arrest, police said Lin told them he "did not know how he got to Layton" and "had been confronted by an unknown person in the parking lot of Smith's Marketplace and offered $2 to place the gift cards on the rack."
The charges say he claimed to be homeless but had a hotel key and "would not identify who he was working with or who was helping him."
Lin is facing one count of communications fraud, a second-degree felony; a count of attempted money laundering and 30 counts of possession of forged writing, both third-degree felonies; and one count of attempted theft by deception, a class A misdemeanor.
Deputy Davis County attorney Jeff Thompson wrote in the charging documents that prosecutors may file a separate charge for each of the gift cards found, so far numbering 132, instead of the representative sample of 30 listed.
Layton police told KSL.com they believe they were able to retrieve all the cards that were allegedly placed by Lin and do not think customers bought any fraudulent cards, though it is not yet known for sure.
The police department suggests checking every gift card for damage or suspicious scratchings before purchase and reporting any already-purchased cards that have been compromised to the gift card company as soon as possible.
Lin was being held without bail in Davis County Jail before his initial appearance.
