Lynnwood police arrest ‘criminal mastermind’ behind gift card scheme

Lynnwood Police have arrested what they are calling a criminal “mastermind” who anchored an elaborate gift card fraud scheme that targeted approximately 100 victims.

Hayley Natasha Brown, 28, sought out Victoria’s Secret locations in Lynnwood, Bellevue, Auburn and Tacoma for the scheme, with Victoria’s Secret claiming its stores and customers lost around $100,000. Victoria’s Secret stores in Oregon, Colorado and Arizona were also affected.

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When Lynnwood Police arrested Brown at a Monroe apartment, detectives uncovered several guns, approximately one pound of illegal drugs, $40,000 in cash and the tools she used to create fake checks. Investigators revealed the guns were stolen, including an Uzi-style firearm with an affixed silencer.

Court documents, obtained by KIRO 7, alleged that one way Brown stole the funds was through a process called “sequencing” — when suspects obtain gift cards and use the numerical sequences to guess numbers on other gift cards.

Brown has previously been convicted of eight felonies, according to Maren McKay with Lynnwood Police Public Affairs.

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Brown was booked for organized retail theft, identity theft, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, financial fraud and manufacture/delivery of illegal drugs. Brown has been released on $200,000 bail, but detectives anticipate additional charges and future arrests of other co-conspirators, according to The Lynnwood Times.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.