The case has advanced against one of two Chinese nationals from California accused of conducting a large-scale gift card scam in metro Detroit.

Guangji Zhang, 46, recently waived his right to have a preliminary exam in 51st District Court, resulting in the judge binding over the case to Oakland County Circuit Court. The case against Zhang’s co-defendant, Huachao Sun, 35, is making its way through the district court, with a probable cause conference scheduled for May 23 before Judge Richard Kuhn.

Both men face one count of conducting a criminal enterprise — a 20-year felony — and two counts of possession of a fraudulent or an altered transaction device for allegedly shoplifting and tampering with gift cards, returning them to stores and then electronically monitoring the gift cards to steal funds added to them by unsuspecting purchasers.

Zhang and Sun were arrested at a Dearborn hotel in March, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office, which filed the charges and is prosecuting the cases.

According to the AG’s office, the cases against the two are built from an investigation initiated by a special agent of the United States Postal Inspection Service after a package determined to be suspicious was found to contain more than 1,500 gift cards and addressed to Zhang and Sun at a hotel in Dearborn. Officers with the AG’s FORCE team and Michigan State Police detectives put Zhang and Sun under surveillance, allegedly watching them as they visited Meijer stores in White Lake, Waterford, Auburn Hills, Southgate, Allen Park and Taylor over two days and allegedly placed altered gift cards back on store shelves.

Their hotel room and vehicle were searched, and more than 3,000 gift cards were confiscated in total, the AG’s office said.

Zhang is out of custody after posting a $250,000 bond. He’s scheduled to be arraigned April 16 before Oakland County Circuit Judge Nance Grant. Sun remains at the Oakland County Jail.