| Two New York men have been sentenced in New Haven federal court for their roles in a credit card fraud scheme.
Yang-Shi Lin, of Flushing, New York was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Mei Bao Lu, also of Flushing, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
Lu was the ringleader of a group of individuals from New York that engaged in counterfeit credit card transactions at retail stores along the East Coast. Lin was Lu’s second-in-command. As part of the scheme, Lu provided several individuals with counterfeit credit cards, which had been produced from credit card information skimmed from cardholders, and directed the buyers to purchase gift cards and luxury merchandise using the counterfeit cards. He then sold the items to other individuals at a discount to be fenced or sold on the black market. The group engaged in fraudulent credit card transactions at retail stores in Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
In total, the group members collectively used 120 counterfeit credit cards, issued by 18 victim financial institutions, to make a total of approximately $179,000 in fraudulent purchases. Investigators discovered an additional 333 stolen card numbers on thumb drives belonging to Lu and Lin that had not been used at the time of their arrests.
Lu was arrested in West Virginia, after he and three other individuals were caught buying gift cards and merchandise with counterfeit credit cards at a mall in Barboursville, West Virginia. Lu pleaded guilty to one count of access device fraud and aiding and abetting.
Lin was arrested and pleaded guilty to the same charge.
Lu and Lin, who are released on bond, were ordered to report to prison on March 7, 2018.
