A New York City man faces dozens of fraud and identity theft charges after Greenwich Police officers allegedly caught him using stolen credit card data at a business on Greenwich Avenue.
Qiyou Chen, 51, was arrested Oct. 17 after a merchant alerted Greenwich police to a suspicious transaction involving him, Greenwich Free Press reported. Chen allegedly conspired with another individual to make a purchase using a digital wallet linked to an unauthorized payment card. The card was declined.
Chen left the scene in a getaway vehicle before officers could detain him, according to the report. Officers canvassed surrounding storefronts and located him in Stamford, where they allegedly observed him continuing the same type of fraudulent activity.
Investigators said they found malicious software on Chen's phone that mimicked a victim's payment card. Based on his behavior, method of payment and the presence of a second phone, officers established probable cause and arrested him.
Chen faces charges including larceny, illegal possession of a personal identification information device, payment card theft, identity theft and criminal impersonation. Several are class D felonies. Bond was set at $250,000. Chen was released on bond and is scheduled to appear in Stamford Superior Court on Oct. 30.
The status of the alleged co-conspirator was not disclosed.
The arrest is the latest in a pattern of organized retail crime busts along Greenwich Avenue. ORCA has operated as a plainclothes detail within the Greenwich Police Department since 2020, targeting larceny, fraud and identity theft in the Central Business District, according to the town's website. The unit works closely with local merchants, training them on fraud detection and sharing intelligence on criminal groups operating across the tri-state area.
Two ORCA officers, Jack Livingston and Alex DeLuca, were named the department's Officers of the Month in an Oct. 7 department announcement. During July alone, the pair made 17 arrests for payment card fraud, larceny, identity theft and related crimes. One of their investigations led to four arrests and the seizure of nearly $7,000 through asset forfeiture, with the suspected ringleader now under investigation by the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force. As of the October announcement, Livingston and DeLuca had made a combined 117 arrests in 2026.
In February, three New York men were charged with a combined hundreds of counts of fraud and larceny after ORCA officers spotted them using stolen card data at local businesses, Greenwich Time reported. One suspect, Jian Lin, 38, of Flushing, faced 487 counts.
Residents who observe suspicious activity on Greenwich Avenue can contact the Greenwich Police Department at 203-622-8004.
