Trio Charged with Forging Phony Charge Cards

Police recovered $600,000 in cash and 480 one-pound packets of marijuana from a home in Flushing, where three defendants allegedly made counterfeit credit cards. Photo courtesy of the Queens DA’s Office.

By David Brand

Three alleged credit card counterfeiters who racked up nearly $600,000 in cash were busted during an early morning raid in Flushing last Friday.

Jian Zhi Chen, 29, Yue Mei Sun, 55, and Qiao Xiao, 26, were arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Karina Alomar on charges of first- and second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, first-degree criminal possession of marijuana, criminal possession forgery devices and endangering the welfare of a child. A baby younger than one-year-old was inside the home when police arrived.

Police executed a search warrant at the home of the three defendants on 22nd Avenue and recovered nearly $600,000 in cash, 480 one-pound packets of marijuana and various credit card-counterfeiting tools, including a credit card reader/writer, a credit card stamper and an embosser, prosecutors said.

Police also allegedly recovered nearly $3,000 in counterfeit cash, forged Chinese passports, a money counting machine and more than a thousand phony credit cards.

“The defendants in this case are accused of setting up a multi-faceted illegal operation dealing in bogus credit cards, counterfeit cash and drugs,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “This brazen criminal business — set up in a residential neighborhood in a home where a child lives — will not be tolerated in Queens County.”

Alomar set bail at $350,000 and ordered the defendants to return to court on February 7, 2019.

If convicted, the three defendants face up to 15 years in prison.