A 24-year-old man has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes for allegedly re-coding credit and debit cards while working at the Apple store in the Queens Center Mall and using them to buy legitimate Apple gift cards worth nearly $1 million.
Ruben Profit, of Cambria Heights in Queens, New York, started working with Apple in December 2013 and transferred to the retail store in the Elmhurst mall when it opened in July. While working there, Profit allegedly bought multiple Apple gift cards using Visa and/or American Express gift, debit or pre-paid credit cards between August and October, authorities said. The total value of the gift cards was $997,000.
An investigation launched in October when Apple started getting notifications of charge-backs, which indicate fraudulent transactions, on the Apple gift cards Profit allegedly purchased.
At the time of his arrest, Profit was allegedly in possession of 51 Visa and American Express gift cards with magnetic strips that had been fraudulently re-encoded with credit card information. He also allegedly had seven Apple gift cards worth $2,000 each.
Profit told police that he was paid $200 for each $2,000 Apple gift card he provided to another individual, according to prosecutors.
Profit faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. He was arraigned Friday and is being held on $20,000 bail.
It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
