Supervisor arrested for scratch-off gift card scam

Police arrested a courier supervisor for stealing 17,000 yuan ($2,811) from a shopping website by spending its gift cards and then sending them back to the website, the Qingpu District Public Security Bureau said in a press release Wednesday.

The suspect, surnamed Hu, was in charge of a Shanghai-based shopping website's courier station in Pan'an county, Zhejiang Province. He found a loophole in the design of the website's gift cards and spent the money on the cards before sending them back.

Hu found that he could replace the layer of scratch-off material on the cards and then purchased nine gift cards with a bit more than 8,000 yuan in value at the end of October. Hu then spent the cards on a digital music player, a mobile phone and a tablet computer.

After replacing the scratch-off material on the cards, Hu returned the cards, claiming that there was no one to receive the package. No one questioned him about the cards.

Hu waited a month and decided to do it again in December. He purchased nine more cards valued at more than 8,000 yuan and rold the card codes online at a 5-percent discount. The spent cards were once again sent back to the website.

The website had actually reported the case to police at the end of November. Police tracked down and arrested Hu in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, on December 30. Hu was preparing for his wedding when he was arrested. The wedding was scheduled to take place three days after his arrest. Hu admitted to the crime, offering the excuse that he planned to use the products he purchased as gifts for his wedding guests.