Arrests Made in Large Fraudulent Gift Card Scheme
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
July 29, 2025
PELHAM, AL. A large scam involving fraudulent gift cards was uncovered recently in Shelby County, Alabama.
The case originated in Hoover on Friday, June 20th, when a CVS store manager reported suspicious activity involving the two men.
According to the manager, two men were seen removing approximately 25 gift cards from a kiosk and replacing them with similar-looking cards they brought with them.
The manager provided Hoover Police with a vehicle description and license plate number. Authorities issued a Be On the Lookout for the SUV, and on the following day, Saturday, June 21, Pelham Police located the vehicle and conducted a traffic stop for a violation.
During the stop, officers discovered several boxes containing thousands of gift cards.
During the officer’s investigation, they discovered that the two Chinese men were involved in counterfeiting gift cards on a large scale.
Jiandong Cao and Xuejun Zheng were both arrested by the Pelham Police Department for possessing 15 counterfeit devices after being suspected of switching out gift cards at local stores.
According to their indictment, Cao is a Chinese illegal alien, and Zheng is a Chinese citizen with a protected asylum immigration status.
The Pelham police, with assistance from federal law enforcement, unraveled the scheme to take the counterfeited gift cards and replace them for the real gift cards.
Authorities said that they found 5,078 gift cards in their possession during a search of their vehicle.
Federal authorities said that they are continuing their investigation, which may include others involved in the scheme.
“On June 25, 2025, USSS Birmingham Field Office Special Agents and Investigative Analysts began to inventory and inspect each of the 5,078 gift cards. The cards were from various retailers that included Amazon, Home Depot, Dicks Sporting Goods, Nike, Lululemon, Sephora, Macy’s, and Nordstrom/Nordstrom Rack. While inventorying the cards, it was discovered that over 300 cards, including Home Depot, Amazon, Sephora and Macy’s, and Nike cards that were altered.
Each card package had been resealed with glue, and, upon opening each of them, it was discovered that parts of the gift card numbers and/or PIN numbers on the cards had been obliterated/altered,” according to the indictment.
Copyright 2025 Blue RAM Media. All rights reserved.
