Grand Haven man pleads guilty in $1 million Meijer mPerks cyber theft

A 22-year-old Grand Haven man pleaded guilty Monday in connection to a mass Meijer mPerks cyber theft that resulted in a corporate loss currently estimated at more than $1 million.

Nicholas Mui pleaded guilty in Kent County's 17^th Circuit Court to one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, according to a news release from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.

Mui will also forfeit his computer tower and about $630,000 in frozen cryptocurrency and cash, the office announced.

Nessel, in a statement, complimented the unique team behind the case in her office, along with Michigan State Police and Meijer.

“Their complex investigation has been instrumental in securing hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and safeguarding a loyalty program used by many across our state,” Nessel said.

An attorney for Mui could not be immediately reached for comment.

Mui was arrested in January and charged with nine felonies, with officials saying he targeted the Meijer grocery chain’s rewards program in which customers accrue store credit that can be used as cash-value toward future purchases.

Mui was accused of obtaining login information from a separate data breach, cross-referencing the logins for access into the mPerks system, and then selling the credentials online. People who purchased that information in turn used points they did not earn for their own purchases, officials said.

Meijer was alerted in spring 2023, as Meijer mPerks users saw their points vanish, the AG’s office said.

The grocery chain has since reinstated customer points, resulting in the corporate loss.

The so-called FORCE team that worked on the case is a first-in-the-nation unit developed in January 2023 to target criminal organizations that steal, repackage and sell products for a profit, the AG’s office said. The name stands for Focused Organized Retail Crime Enforcement. The AG office team works with the State Police and partners with the FBI and Postal Inspection Service.

Mui is slated for sentencing Sept. 5.

Conducting a criminal enterprise is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.