A Chinese citizen, Zhango Liang from Fuzhou, Fujian Province, was sentenced to 264 days in federal prison on May 20 by the Eastern District Court of Washington state for his involvement in a cross-state fraud case involving counterfeit iPads. Despite having already served 101 days in custody during the trial period, the judge determined his total sentence to be one year and ordered him to compensate the retailer Target for losses totaling $326,000.
This case originated in the summer of 2023 when a friend of Zhango Liang approached him with a “job” that involved using gift cards to make purchases at Target stores in exchange for delivering the items to another individual. Starting from December of the same year, he was instructed to conduct a return fraud scheme: disassemble genuine iPads purchased from Target, replace them with counterfeit ones, reseal the packaging, and return the boxed fake products to the store for a refund on the gift cards. He would then use these gift cards to purchase more iPads and repeat the fraudulent process.
Prosecutors stated that the 24-year-old Zhango Liang collaborated with a 20-year-old female accomplice, Linda You, to carry out this scheme from January to June of 2024 at Target stores in Washington, Los Angeles, Montana, and Huntington Park, California, among other locations. They successfully returned at least 140 counterfeit iPads, obtaining refunds of around $163,000.
Due to the loss of genuine iPads by Target during these frauds and the refunds being issued onto gift cards, the retailer incurred losses amounting to $326,000.
On September 30, 2024, Zhango Liang was arrested in Vernonia, Washington state, while Linda You was apprehended on October 10 in Queens, New York. She has since admitted to the fraud charges and is scheduled for sentencing in a Washington state court on June 23 of this year.
Federal Assistant Prosecutor Richard R. Barker highlighted the severity of the case when announcing the verdict, stating that “Zhango Liang was involved in a meticulously planned fraud scheme against the retail return system, severely damaging commercial integrity, ultimately leading to price hikes that affect ordinary consumers.”