Charges filed in Costco ‘tap-to-pay fraud scheme’

PROVO — A California man accused of attempting to buy Nintendo and Apple products at nine Costco stores in Salt Lake and Utah County using numerous stolen bank card numbers is now facing charges.

Shijian Ni, 19, of Monrovia, California, was charged Wednesday in 4th District Court with communications fraud, engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity and unlawful use of a bank card, second-degree felonies; and two more counts of unlawful use of a bank card, a third-degree felony.

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On July 30, Orem police investigated “a report of a tap-to-pay fraud scheme in which the credit cards of multiple individuals were kept on the same phone and used to attempt to make high-value retail purchases,” according to charging documents.

Detectives learned that the day before, on July 29, a man made or attempted to make fraudulent purchases “at Costco locations in Orem, Lehi, Saratoga Springs, Riverton, Sandy, South Jordan, Murray, West Valley and Salt Lake City,” the charges state. “At the Orem location, Ni was able to complete at least two transactions with two different credit cards, although 17 different transaction cards were used during the spree.

Ni was arrested at the Costco in Sandy, where at least two victims reported that their Costco cards were used to purchase two iPad Pros, according to the charges.

When he was taken into custody, police found “15 Nintendo Switch 2 consoles, 18 iPad Pros, 4 iPad Airs and 7 AirPods” in Ni’s vehicle, the charges state. “The total amount of fraudulently obtained merchandise recovered was $19,787.”

A police booking affidavit further states that evidence was also recovered indicating that Ni may have been shipping the fraudulently purchased items.