CANTON, Mich. (WXYZ) — A California woman is potentially facing years in prison for her alleged role in an elaborate retail fraud scheme that spanned multiple states and involved stolen credit card information to purchase thousands of dollars in gift cards.
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Baixue He was arrested last Wednesday by Canton Police during an organized retail crime blitz in partnership with the Michigan Attorney General/Michigan State Police FORCE Team. Police allege He drove from California to Southeast Michigan, where she hit nearly a dozen stores and purchased upward of $10,000 worth of gift cards using stolen credit card information.
"In this case, particularly, we know that there was a fraudulent look-alike website for a brand-name designer that our victim went to to purchase some jewelry for his girlfriend, and that website was not legitimate, and that's how his card was stolen," Lt. Michael Andes said.
According to Canton Police, He purchased dozens of gift cards at self-checkout kiosks from stores including Sephora, Target, and Lowe's. The cards would then be resold or used to purchase high-end electronics for sale overseas or domestically.
RAW VIDEO: Canton retail fraud suspect arrested
Police say He is part of a larger retail crime organization. Detectives spotted her at a Home Depot location and followed her to stores in Van Buren Township, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township, and Scio Township, where investigators say she used stolen credit card information to buy gift cards.
"Somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000 that day. We believe she does this every day and it's her full-time job, so we're looking at probably in the millions throughout the nation just by Ms. He," Andes said.
Oakland University business professor Michael Greiner says these types of crimes cost businesses and credit card companies billions of dollars, with consumers ultimately paying through higher product prices and interest rates.
"There is a certain amount where there are these chargebacks, where essentially retailers come to them and say, look, you know, we had this credit card charge come to us, and it turns out that it's fraudulent, so you need to give us the money back. And so the credit card companies have to do that, and that gets baked into, again, the interest rates that all of us are paying," Greiner said.
With the holiday shopping season approaching, police recommend several steps to protect yourself from similar schemes. The most important tip is verifying website URLs when shopping online.
"The biggest thing is when you're doing online shopping is to check out the URL to make sure that it's at, like, a .com address and that the brand name is spelled correctly," Andes said. "Sometimes they'll use an Amazon where they'll put zero instead of the O for the Amazon, and they'll direct you to a fraudulent site. Sometimes you'll see a Walmartsale.com, which is also a fraudulent website."
Local shopper Bart DeVos says he monitors his accounts closely and avoids clicking on advertisements offering deep discounts that seem too good to be true.
"If I have any, like, big purchases on my credit card, and it'll notify me and I keep an eye on my accounts," DeVos said. "Because, I mean, scammers are out there. That's obvious right there."
He is facing 17 counts of identity theft and is being held in the Wayne County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.
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