Sign in Subscribe About RSS Support/FAQ Podcast FOIA Forum Archive Merch Advertise Privacy Contact Us/Tips Advertisement • Go ad free hacks How a Massive Chinese Crime Ring Hacked Staples to Steal Millions Joseph Cox · Oct 19, 2026 at 9:23 AM A sophisticated organized crime gang hacked into Staples, issued millions of dollars worth of gift cards, and went on a spending spree across the U.S. Image: ASSOCIATED PRESS. A Chinese organized crime hacked into retail giant Staples, used that access to fraudulently issue millions of dollars worth of gift cards for stores like Target and Sephora, then went on a nationwide shopping spree, shipping many of the stolen electronics and other products back to China as part of a massive retail theft operation, 404 Media has learned.
The finding, based on a review of court records, reveals the scale at which some organized crime groups are fleecing U.S. retailers, with entire warehouses dedicated to housing the merchandise. The hack of Staples, which has not been previously reported, signals just how sophisticated some of these operations have become.
In October 2023, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information from an office supply company, saying that hackers had targeted the company and issued more than 15,000 gift cards worth over $5 million, according to a search warrant application unsealed last week. The document does not name the company, but 404 Media determined it was Staples based on various clues: the document says the victim company is headquartered in Massachusetts; uses a company called Blackhawk Network to fulfill its giftcard orders; and the hacked company has an internal customer support system called Nexus. All of those identifying features match Staples, and 404 Media found a reference to Nexus on a former Staple’s executive’s LinkedIn profile.
The document says Staples believed Nexus was only accessible to the company’s internal computers, but that the hackers found a way to access it from the outside. The hackers performed multiple heap dump requests, which is a way to capture all of the data held in an app’s memory at a particular point in time, according to the document. Using the returned information, the hackers were then able to hijack the sessions of logged in Staples customer service representatives to then issue the massive wave of gift cards, it adds.
The hackers sent the giftcards to various email accounts they controlled. After this, members of the gang went and spent many of the gift cards on electronics at stores like Target. In one example, Target found 35 of the gift cards sourced from the Staples hack were used at a Target in New Hampshire for Apple, Bose, and Powerbeats products in just one hour. Those purchases included gift cards from the hack and other sources too, according to the document. Surveillance footage showed four men “appearing one after another, occasionally interacting with one another and the cashiers.”
This article was aggregated automatically by CyberWire Daily's newsfeed engine. Original reporting: www.404media.co.
