Wen Ping Chen, Credit Card Theft, New York 2024

Wen Ping Chen, 39, of Brooklyn, New York, is headed to federal prison for orchestrating a sprawling credit card fraud scheme that spanned multiple states and raked in tens of thousands through stolen plastic. Chen was sentenced to 12 months plus one day in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro by Judge J. Garvan Murtha. He’ll also serve three years of supervised release and pay restitution alongside two co-defendants—Shao Qing Chen, 28, and Kewang Lin, 38—both of whom received probation.

The operation, which ran from 2013 until August 2014, relied on deception and exploitation. Chen recruited young men and women from Brooklyn and sent them into Chinese restaurants across the East Coast, where they obtained waitressing jobs under false pretenses. Hidden credit card skimming devices were used by these recruits to steal customer data. The stolen numbers were then funneled back to Wen Ping Chen, who manufactured counterfeit cards for use in a nationwide shopping spree of gift cards and high-value electronics.

In August 2014, the scheme collapsed when Shao Qing Chen and Kewang Lin were caught in South Burlington, Vermont, attempting to load up on gift cards using the forged cards. Officers recovered more than 80 counterfeit credit cards and thousands of dollars in fraudulent merchandise. Surveillance footage and transaction records traced the pair’s movements to multiple stores over two days, all funded by compromised accounts pulled from unsuspecting diners.

Before their arrest, the trio had already hit stores in Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, and Louisiana, always using cards supplied by Wen Ping Chen. The fraud ring targeted big-box retailers where large gift card purchases raised fewer red flags. Resale of the cards on underground markets netted significant profits—$25,600 in total losses, which the court has ordered the defendants to repay jointly.

Wen Ping Chen wasn’t arrested during the initial Vermont sweep but was taken into custody later in 2014. He remained free on bond as investigators unraveled the web of transactions and communications linking him to the skimming devices, card production, and distribution network. The case was built through collaboration between the South Burlington Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, and ICE Homeland Security Investigations, using financial forensics and witness testimony to seal the convictions.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Waples prosecuted the case. Wen Ping Chen is represented by Paul Brenner; Shao Qing Chen by Stacey Van Malden; and Kewang Lin by Edgar Fankbonner. Chen must report to the Bureau of Prisons on April 4 to begin serving his sentence—a hard landing for a man who turned hospitality into highway robbery with a swipe of a card.

RELATED: Kentucky Woman Gets Four Years for COVID Loan Heist

RELATED: Pool Cue Kingpin Sentenced in Ivory Smuggling Scheme