Federal prosecutors in Rhode Island just announced a major conviction tied to a multi-state retail theft scheme. Flint resident Mattek Scott, 27, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for a gift card scam that ran from 2022 through 2024. His co-defendant, Arianna Asberry, 26, also of Flint, was sentenced earlier and ordered to pay more than $138,000 in restitution.
Their method was simple. Use a fake debit or credit card. When the card was declined, pressure the cashier to hit the cash button without any money being exchanged. That loaded gift cards with real value that they then used for hotels, gas, groceries, utilities and more.
Does This Sound Familiar?
It should. We just covered nearly the exact same scheme run by twin brothers from Saginaw inside Minnesota stores during 2024 into 2025. Same tactic. Keep the purchase under $500. Get the cashier to hit cash tendered. Walk out with loaded gift cards. Then flip them into electronics like iPads and Apple Watches and ship them back to Michigan. Losses in that case topped $63,000.
What Are The Odds?
– Same scam format
– Same manipulation of clerks
– Same under $500 trick
– Same general timeframe
– One crew from Flint
– One crew from Saginaw
With Flint and Saginaw just 40 minutes apart, the similarities are too close to ignore. These cases may be listed separately, but the schemes are nearly identical and operated at the same time.
It seems awfully like they were working together, or at the very least running playbooks from the same larger crime enterprise.
