Grand Haven man arrested for stealing, selling mPerks login information
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LANSING — A Grand Haven man has been arrested and arraigned following an investigation into stolen mPerks accounts, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday, Jan. 4.
The investigation was announced in December after several Meijer customers reported missing points in their mPerks accounts. mPerks is Meijer’s loyalty and rewards incentive program.
Nessel announced Thursday that Nicholas Mui, 22, of Grand Haven, was arrested in connection to the “systematic theft and sale of account access information” tied to mPerks accounts. Mui was arraigned in 59th District Court in Kent County on Dec. 27, 2023.
More: Were your mPerks points stolen? Michigan has a task force investigating
He's charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and using a computer to commit a crime, both 20-year felonies. Mui is also charged with seven counts of identity theft, each a five-year felony.
It’s alleged that Mui obtained login credentials from a separate data breach, unrelated to Meijer, then cross-referenced those credentials with the mPerks infrastructure. He then allegedly sold those login credentials on the internet. Purchasers of the credentials then used point balances to fund their own purchases from Meijer.
“Consumers should heed this warning and exercise smart password discipline,” Nessel said. “If you are notified of a data breach, you should be changing your login credentials not just with that breach point platform, but also for any other accounts for which you use the same login credentials. Additionally, consumers should be changing their passwords at regular intervals, and not employing the same usernames and passwords across multiple platforms.”
Meijer was alerted to the thefts by consumers. An investigation involved Meijer corporate investigators, the Michigan State Police Fraud Investigation Section and the FORCE Team. A search warrant was executed in September, resulting in over $400,000 in cash and cryptocurrency seized in connection to the alleged operation.
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Meijer reinstated the full previous balance of affected customers. The current calculated loss exceeds $1,000,000, according to Nessel’s office.
“This theft operation affected hundreds of Meijer customers and mPerks account holders, and cost the grocery chain over $1,000,000,” Nessel said. “It is our belief we apprehended the main operative and driver of this sophisticated, widespread criminal enterprise, and I’m grateful for the partnership between my FORCE Team, the Michigan State Police and Meijer.”
Mui is due back in court Jan. 9 for a probable cause conference.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Grand Haven man arrested for stealing, selling mPerks login info
