Lynnwood police have arrested the mastermind of a sophisticated gift card scam. Police say the scheme targeted around 100 victims.
Women’s clothing retailer Victoria’s Secret estimated that its stores and customers lost nearly $100,000. The attacks targeted Victoria’s Secret stores in Lynnwood, Bellevue, Auburn and Tacoma, as well as stores in Oregon, Colorado and Arizona.
Hayley Brown, 28, was arrested Monday at an apartment in Monroe, where investigators also found several stolen weapons, tools for making counterfeit checks, about a pound of illegal drugs and about $40,000 in cash.
According to court documents, one way the suspects stole the funds was through a process called “sequencing,” in which the suspects obtain gift cards and use the sequences of numbers to guess numbers on other gift cards.
According to Maren McKay of the Lynnwood Police Department’s public information department, Brown has been previously convicted of eight felonies.
Brown was charged with organized shoplifting, identity theft, illegal possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, financial fraud and manufacture/delivery of illegal drugs.
McKay said there could be more arrests in this case in the future.
Gift card fraud is more common than you might think. According to AARP, nearly one in four U.S. consumers has given or received a gift card with no balance.
It happened to Samantha Jerome a few years ago during the holidays.
“It was a scam,” she said. “Someone had withdrawn the money from the cards.”
Jerome lost a few hundred dollars in total. She now avoids buying gift cards altogether.
If you buy gift cards in person, experts advise shopping at stores that store gift cards in secure locations. Always check the gift card before purchasing, and always keep your receipt.
