WLKM Radio 95.9 FM
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the arrest and arraignment of a Grand Haven man on several felony charges related to the theft of Meijer “MPerks” accounts.
Nicholas Mui, 22, was arraigned Dec. 27 in Kent County on one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, one count of using a computer to commit a crime and seven counts of identity theft.
MPerks is the loyalty and rewards incentive program through which points can be used as cash-value toward purchases. Nessel said mPerks account holders had their rewards accounts compromised, log-in credentials sold online, and their points stolen and used fraudulently.
It is alleged that Mui obtained log-in credentials from a separate data breach then sold the credentials on the internet. Purchasers of the log-in credentials then used the points balance to fund their own purchases from Meijer, with incidents documented in both online and in-store purchases.
Meijer was initially alerted to the thefts in April, as customers complained of vanishing points on their accounts, prompting company officials to contact the Fraud Investigation Section of the Michigan State Police. In September, a search warrant was executed and more than $400,000 in cash and cryptocurrency were seized in connection to this alleged operation.
