Two Latvian men were arrested in Naples on Wednesday after confessing to their involvement in a gift card scheme across Florida.
Detectives with the Naples Police Department said they noticed two men, later identified as Kirils Gula and Maksims Slapins, acting suspiciously near the gift card rack at a Walgreens store, appearing to conceal something.
The report states their behavior continued as they drove to a nearby Publix, where they parked in a low-visibility spot, entered the store and exited without making any purchases.
Detectives said the pattern repeated at another Walgreens, raising further suspicion.
The detective conducted a traffic stop on their vehicle after noticing its expired tag. When asked for identification, Gula initially claimed not to have any, stating he had only been in the U.S. for 30 days.
However, the report states investigations revealed he had been in the country for four months. Gula later provided a Latvian passport and consented to a search of the vehicle.
Inside the car, authorities said they found multiple gift cards in the center console with receipts indicating they had been purchased with various debit cards.
The report states they found a cooler bag containing an additional 176 gift cards, valued at approximately $15,000. Each card was labeled with an address, marking the locations from which they had been stolen.
During questioning, detectives said Gula and Slapins confessed to participating in a larger fraud operation spanning multiple Florida cities, including Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville.
The scheme involved stealing gift cards, replacing them with fraudulent barcodes and returning them to store shelves. Once unsuspecting customers purchased and activated the cards, the funds would be redirected to a crime syndicate’s bank account.
Gula and Slapins were arrested and are facing charges of scheme to defraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Gula also faced an additional charge for driving without a license.
DOWNLOAD the free NBC2 News app for your latest news and weather alerts.