In separate incidents, three New York men were recently arrested by Greenwich Police on dozens of fraud related charges.
Police described the circumstances of the three arrests as consistent with tactics used by Chinese Organized Criminal Groups who are known to use mirrored digital wallets to make unauthorized purchases with stolen payment card information.
Police said that plainclothes officers conducting surveillance targeting organized retail crime in central Greenwich observed suspicious activity consistent with Chinese Organized Credit Card Fraud.
Police said that on Feb 9 Yuh Tzong Lee, 73, of Flushing, NY and Ke Tan Zhang, 45, of Staten Island, NY allegedly utilized 15 different credit/debit cards via a tap-to-pay method, which bore the personal identification information of various victims to attempt to buy gift cards are multiple retail stores. Six were successful and 9 were declined.
As Mr. Lee and Mr. Zhang attempted to enter a nearby getaway vehicle, investigators conducted an investigative detention. On scene interviews with the suspects revealed vague explanations about their actions and investigators observed several Chinese downloaded applications to burner phones, which are used solely to facilitate credit card fraud. Based on the circumstances including Mr. Lee’s and Mr. Zhang’s behavior, method of payment, geographic origin, use of multiple cards, presence of a second phone and known COCG methods, investigators established probable cause to believe they was engaged in credit card fraud and placed him under arrest.
Mr. Lee faces dozens of charges including Larceny 6, Payment Card Theft, Identity Theft 3 and Criminal Impersonation.
His bond was set at $250,000 and he was assigned a date in court on Feb 23, 2026. He was able to post bond and is due in court again on March 26, 2026.
Ke Tan Zhang faces 26 charges including Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Impersonation, Conspiracy to Commit Identity Theft 2 and Conspiracy to Commit Larceny 3.
Mr. Zhang’s bond was also set at $250,000, and he was also assigned a date in court on Feb 23, 2026. The Judicial Branch website says he was able to post 7% cash bond and was released. He is due in court again on March 23, 2026.
In a separate incident which took place on Feb 12, police arrested a Flushing, NY man, Jian Lin, 38, after plain clothes officers were alerted to suspicious activity at a retail store where a person was displaying behavior consistent with Organized Credit Card Fraud.
Like Mr. Zhang and Mr. Lee, Mr. Lin allegedly used multiple different credit/debit cards via a tap-to-pay method bearing the PII of victims in an attempt to purchase gift cards from multiple stores in both Greenwich and Stamford, while having numerous declined transactions before attempting a different card. Police say his behavior reflected tactics similar to those of Chinese Organized Criminal Groups for identity theft and credit card fraud. As Mr. Lin attempted to enter a nearby getaway vehicle, investigators detained him and on scene interview revealed conflicting and vague explanations when compared to witness and investigator’s observations. He stated he was unaware who the credit cards belonged to.
Mr. Lin faces over 400 charges, ranging from Criminal Impersonation (54 counts) to Identity Theft 3 (54 counts). His bond was set at $500,000 and he was assigned an initial date in Stamford Superior Court on Feb 27, 2026 and according to the Judicial Branch website he was not released from custody and is due back in court on April 2, 2026.