A California man who prosecutors say helped run a large-scale gift-card fraud scheme through Metro Detroit Meijer stores has pled no contest to a 20-year felony, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.
Source: Michigan Attorney General
Sinjuan Song, 31, of Alhambra, California, pled no contest last week to one count of Conducting a Criminal Enterprise in the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County. The plea closes a case that began when Song was charged in March of this year with operating a gift-card fraud scheme that hit Meijer locations across Metro Detroit.
Source: Michigan Attorney General
Six Meijer stores named across Metro Detroit
Prosecutors alleged that 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. Those six communities stretch across Oakland and Wayne counties, covering a wide arc of the Detroit suburbs where Meijer is one of the region's dominant grocery and general-merchandise chains.
The investigation was led by the United States Postal Inspection Service, working with the Attorney General's FORCE Team — the state's dedicated organized retail crime unit — and the Michigan State Police. Song had earlier been arraigned in Waterford on the charges, and Detroit television station WDIV reported at the time that investigators believed the operation was part of a network stretching across multiple states.
Source: WDIV via Cars 108 / Club 93.7 reporting
How the drained-gift-card scheme worked
Gift-card fraud of this kind typically begins with the theft of empty, unsold gift cards from retail stores, the Attorney General's office explained. The cards are tampered with to reveal their unique redemption numbers, which the scammers record. The numbers are then concealed again with adhesive so the card looks untouched, and the altered cards are returned to the shelves of the store they came from.
From there, the group allegedly used computer programs to monitor the tampered cards. The moment an unsuspecting shopper bought one and loaded it with money, the balance was transferred into another digital account controlled by the scammers. The card itself was left empty — so the person who later received it as a gift and tried to redeem it found it already depleted.
"Shoppers should carefully inspect gift cards they intend to purchase, checking for any signs the card has been tampered with, before loading them with funds," Attorney General Dana Nessel said.
"I am grateful for the collaboration between our FORCE Team, Michigan State Police, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, that allowed us to end a significant fraud ring and secure this conviction," Nessel said in the announcement.
A crime Michigan has just rewritten its laws to fight
The plea lands weeks after Michigan tightened its own laws against exactly this offence. New state laws signed earlier this month classify gift-card draining as organized retail crime, a felony, after the Michigan Retailers Association argued the classification better fits how these rings operate. State officials have repeatedly cited Federal Trade Commission data showing more than $200 million in annual losses to gift-card scams in recent years, WCMU Public Media reported.
Source: WCMU Public Media
Nessel has made the issue a signature consumer-protection file: she was named the inaugural attorney general strategic partner of the Gift Card Fraud Prevention Alliance and previously released a video alerting Michiganders to the scam, explaining how it works and how shoppers can protect themselves.
Why this matters for Metro Detroit shoppers — and diaspora families
The timing matters. The plea comes just as the holiday shopping season approaches, when gift cards are among the most-bought presents in the United States — including in Metro Detroit's large immigrant communities, where gift cards are a common way to send a present across town or mark a family occasion. A tampered card does not just steal money; it leaves the buyer embarrassed and the recipient empty-handed, and the loss is often never reported, which is one reason officials say the crime keeps growing.
The practical defences officials repeat are simple: inspect the packaging for torn seals, scratched or re-covered PIN areas and loose adhesive before paying; where possible, buy cards kept behind the counter or buy digital cards directly from the retailer's own website; keep the purchase receipt; and check the balance soon after buying so a drained card can be reported while the trail is still fresh.
What happens next
Song is scheduled to appear for sentencing on November 18 in the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County. Conducting a Criminal Enterprise is a 20-year felony under Michigan law, and the judge will set the actual sentence at that hearing. The Attorney General's announcement did not state a restitution figure, and any amount owed to victims would be addressed through the court process.