BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2023) — Boca Raton Police arrested a woman for fraud who is believed to be a member of an “Asian hacking group” targeting high end retailers in the area.
According to an arrest affidavit, officers responded to Macy’s at the Town Center at Boca Raton just before 10 PM on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 in reference to an suspect in custody for fraud.
The Loss Prevention personnel told officers that they were alerted when the woman walked in the door due to information they had about a “group of Asians hacking into their database and stealing customers information”. While the woman was conducting a transaction, the Loss Prevention employees called the store’s fraud hotline. The store LP personnel say they moved in and apprehended the woman once it was confirmed that the actual cardholder, a woman in Maryland, did not actually authorize the transaction. The store’s Loss Prevention personnel took the 30-something-year-old woman into custody for fraud and called Police.
Officers say that the woman didn’t speak any English but identified herself as “Nancy”. When officers asked for her full name, she only responded with “Lawyer”. Officers booked the woman as “Nancy Jane”. In court, the woman, who was provided a Mandarin interpreter, claimed her name is Ming Xiao. At the time of her arrest, Xiao was in procession of two fraudulent Maryland drivers licensees with her face but other victims personal information on them.
Ming Xiao was arrested and charged with the following:
- 817.034(4a3) Organized Fraud-under 20k
- 817.568(2a) Fraudulent Use Of Personal Id Information
- 901.36(1) Give False Id To Law Enforcement Officer
- 322.212(1a) Dl Unauthorized Possession Of D/L Or ID Card
Macy’s is known to have been the victim of a customer data breach as recently as 2019 but we are unaware of any reports from this year. Macy’s has not yet returned Boca Post’s request for comment.
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