WEST BLOOMFIELD (WWJ) -- Two West Bloomfield brothers are behind bars after organizing a gift card scheme that racked up an estimated $9.2 million in fraudulent transactions.
According to WDIV-Detroit, Harry Gappy, 56, was sentenced Friday to four years behind bars after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. His 48-year-old brother, Hadeer Gappy, was sentenced in April for his role in this scheme.
According to investigators, the brothers ran a gift card scheme out of their store, Bottoms Up Liquor, along Eight Mile Road in Detroit.
They reportedly would buy illegally obtained gift cards at a reduced rate and then sell them at a higher rate. The brothers would either buy Walmart gift cards or store-valued Visa and MasterCard gift cards from customers who obtained the gift cards illegally.
The people who sold the cards to the men would often use compromised credit and debit card accounts to buy them, according to authorities.
Officials said the brothers even had a list shown in the store that displayed how much they were willing to pay for the cards. They would then turn around and sell the gift cards to online resellers for an amount close to the full value.
The scheme operated from February 2016 through February 2018. In that time, the brothers sold roughly $6.3 million worth of gift cards and processed $2.9 million worth of in-store-valued card transactions.
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