Two Ames residents are facing wire and mail fraud charges for allegedly buying new electronic equipment then returning broken equipment for refunds.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment this week against 25-year-old Wilson Yat-Sun Kwong and 23-year-old Liyin Lau, both of Ames.

Each are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and three counts of mail fraud.

The indictments allege that Kwong and Lau used credit cards to purchase electronic equipment at various stores across the Midwest, and then took similar, broken equipment with counterfeit serial numbers back to the stores for refunds.

It says they then sold the new equipment on the Internet.

The indictment claims that they got nearly $97,000 from the scheme.

Their arraignment was scheduled for Tuesday.