California Man Pleads no contest in Michigan gift card fraud scheme

Sinjuan Song, 31, of Alhambra, California, pled no contest to one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, a 20-year felony, in the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the plea last week, noting that Song was charged in March of this year for operating a large-scale gift card fraud scheme impacting Metro Detroit Meijer locations.

Prosecutors alleged Song was connected to an organized retail crime group that distributed altered gift cards at Meijer locations in White Lake, Waterford, Auburn Hills, Southgate, Allen Park, and Taylor in 2025. The investigation was led by the United States Postal Inspection Service in collaboration with the Attorney General’s FORCE Team and the Michigan State Police.

The scheme involved stealing empty, unsold gift cards, tampering with them to reveal redemption numbers, and returning them to retail shelves. Scammers used computer programs to monitor when shoppers loaded funds onto the cards, transferring the balances to digital accounts before the cards were redeemed.

Read the full story at michigan.gov.