Investigators say the months-long scheme hit racks from Dallas-Fort Worth to the Gulf Coast.
GARLAND, Texas — Three men are in custody after Texas investigators said they stole and cloned hundreds of retail gift cards, draining balances from shoppers statewide in a scheme that authorities estimate caused $14 million in losses. The arrests followed a December tip in Garland that led police to seized cards and evidence from multiple locations.
Officials said the case matters now because it unfolded through the holiday shopping period, when gift cards are heavily purchased and quickly activated. The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center coordinated with Garland police and other agencies after identifying a pattern of tampered packages and rapidly drained balances. The men were booked on first-degree felony counts tied to fraudulent possession of gift cards, and all three remain held on immigration detainers in Dallas County as investigators work to identify victims and losses tied to transactions across Texas.
Authorities said the investigation accelerated after Dec. 15, when a tip directed Garland officers to a store on Broadway Boulevard and other nearby shops. Officers reported finding a bag of gift cards in a car trunk and said the potential loss tied to that stop exceeded $26,000. Investigators later linked the suspects to activity at as many as 10 stores a day, seven days a week, beginning in May. The method, commonly called “gift card cloning,” involves pulling inactivated cards off a rack, opening the packaging to capture electronic codes, resealing the cards and returning them to the display. When a customer buys and loads value, scammers monitor the balance and drain it before the buyer can spend it.
Officials identified the suspects as Kristians Petrovskis, Romualds Cubrevics and Normunds Ulevicus. Investigators said more than 400 gift cards were recovered at the time of the arrests, which spanned stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond. The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center said the men admitted to targeting around 10 locations a day for seven months, hitting large retailers and pharmacies. State authorities estimated the total impact at $14 million in stolen value. Two suspects are being held at the Dallas County Jail; a third remains in custody in Garland. It is not yet known how many individual consumers were affected or whether additional arrests are expected.
Records show the case sits at the intersection of a new state statute and familiar consumer losses. Lawmakers created a first-degree felony for fraudulent possession or use of gift cards under Texas Penal Code 32.56, which took effect earlier this year. Investigators said the case stretched beyond North Texas to Central Texas and the Gulf Coast, with activity concentrated at store kiosks where high-volume card racks can be accessed quickly. Past complaints in Texas have described cards that looked normal at checkout but were empty by the time recipients tried to use them, a pattern consistent with the cloning method described by police.
Prosecutors will now determine final charges and any enhancements tied to the volume of cards and dollar value cited by state investigators. Authorities said they are cataloging seized cards and reviewing store surveillance to build a full timeline. Any indictment would be filed in local courts with hearings expected in early 2026. Agencies that assisted include local police departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety and federal partners. Officials said they are also reviewing whether other cases in Texas or neighboring states share the same packaging tampering and rapid-drain signatures.
The arrests capped a busy holiday period for police in Garland and across Dallas-Fort Worth. Outside the affected stores this week, shoppers described pausing at card racks and checking packaging for tears or excess glue. Clerks at several locations said managers had stepped up checks of kiosks after the December stop in Garland. The stores declined to detail changes but said they were cooperating with investigators and reviewing footage from the days when the men were believed to be visiting multiple locations daily.
As of Friday, authorities said the three suspects remained jailed while investigators continued tallying losses and tracing transactions. Officials said the next update is expected after forensic reviews of recovered cards and store records are complete in early January.
Author note: Last updated January 2, 2026.