via Queens District Attorney’s office.
Jan. 28, 2019 By Nathaly Pesantez
Three Flushing residents are accused of running a fake credit card manufacturing operation out of their neighborhood home, with each facing up to 15 years in prison after authorities raided their home late last week, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Jian Zhi Chen, 29, Yue Mei Sun, 55, and Qiao Xiao, 26, were arraigned last Friday and charged with “possessing all the materials needed for a sophisticated credit card manufacturing mill,” with officers from the New York Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation allegedly recovering nearly $600,000 in cash, $3,000 in counterfeit money, and about 480 pounds of marijuana after raiding their 22nd Avenue home.
Authorities also found an infant living in the home where the alleged operation was headquartered during the raid late last week, leading to additional charges against the defendants of endangering the welfare of a child, DA Richard Brown said.
“The defendants in this case are accused of setting up a multi-faceted illegal operation dealing in bogus credit cards, counterfeit cash and drugs,” he said. “This brazen criminal business – set up in a residential neighborhood in a home where a child lives – will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
The NYPD and FDNY allegedly found various credit card-making devices, including a credit card reader, stamper, and embosser, after their court-authorized search through the 22nd Avenue home on Jan. 24.
Authorities also found forged Chinese passports, a money counter machine, foil cartridges typically used to color fake credit cards, and more than a thousand bogus credit cards at the home, DA Brown said. All three defendants, additionally, were inside at the time of the raid.
It is unclear how long authorities had been investigating the alleged counterfeit credit card ring.
Along with charges of endangering the welfare of a child, Chen, Sun, and Xiao face charges of first and second degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and forgery devices and first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.
The defendants are due back in Queens Criminal Court on Feb. 7
