It seems the United States has become an equal-opportunity target for all manner of illegal alien scammers, fraudsters, and thieves. We’ve been treated to a cavalcade of reports about the Somali “refugee” community in Minneapolis, as well as concurring alleged fraud cases elsewhere. But lest we cast all the blame on Somalian communities, we should, in all fairness, note that the latest such ripoff of American business by illegal aliens comes to us from Texas, and the accused goblins are reportedly illegal aliens from Latvia. They are accused of having engaged in a multi-million dollar gift card fraud scheme.
Three illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe have been arrested in Texas for their alleged involvement in a $14 million gift card fraud scheme across several states.
Kristians Petroviskis, Romunds Cubrevics and Nurmunds Ulevicus were arrested by the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC), Fox Austin reported.
The men, all Latvian citizens, told investigators that they stole gift cards from about 10 stores each day, seven days a week, since May, the news outlet reported.
They hit 10 stores a day, seven days a week? Imagine if they had turned that level of dedication towards a job.
Here’s how the scheme worked:
“The card is removed, and then the material on the back that covers up the numbers to transfer anything or activate the card is then removed so that they can see it,” FCIC Director Adam Colby said. “The numbers that are on the card are then programmed into another program that the criminals are using, which will now monitor that card.”
Colby said the three suspects were in the United States illegally.
After the numbers on the cards are programmed into another, the cards were reassembled to appear new, without scratches, and placed back onto store shelves for someone to buy.
“As soon as it is activated and money placed onto that card, the criminals are now aware of it, but they now have the ability to transfer the money off of that card and onto another card where it is then cashed out or used to buy high-end merchandise,” said Colby.
Mr. Colby also noted that they three are in the United States illegally, although he didn’t describe how or when they entered the country. We do know that they have been charged with first-degree fraudulent possession of the gift cards. It’s unclear, from the reporting here, whether Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) has received a referral for the three.
Read More: Somali Daycare Fraud: Ripping Off Taxpayers Since 2015 (at Least)
Watch: DHS and ICE Investigators Going Door to Door to Crack Down on Suspected Minneapolis Scammers
It’s enough to make one wonder if someone is handing out maps in other parts of the world, like Somalia, Latvia, and other such places, with the United States, on that map, bearing a big legend, “HERE BE SUCKERS.” Granted, as someone once famously observed, if you want to steal, you go where the money is, and the United States is just such a place. Furthermore, for four years preceding President Trump’s resumption of the presidency in January, the United States was being suckered in by the waves of people showing up at our borders, claiming to be “refugees,” and being allowed in with no questions asked.
Now, we have millions in fraud in Texas, possibly billions in Minnesota, and who knows how much elsewhere?
And it’s all thanks to the Biden administration.
Hint: If you’re buying a gift card, buy it online, not off a rack in the local drugstore.
Editor’s Note: We voted for mass deportations, not mass amnesty. Help us continue to fight back against those trying to go against the will of the American people.
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