( CNN ) -- New York Police investigators are probing whether three men arrested last week with a stash of Apple products possibly bought with gift cards altered with stolen credit card data may have ties to a broader network of scammers , a law enforcement official said . Prosecutors in Brooklyn charged the three suspects , who were arrested on Thursday following a traffic stop . In their car , prosecutors allege , the men carried 17 Apple iPad Air and 11 iPad Mini tablets , 7 iTouch players , one X-Box , and 9 $ 25 iTunes cards . They also had a stash of 39 gift cards with magnetic strips that had been altered to carry stolen credit card data , according to court documents . Investigators believe they used similarly altered gift cards to buy the Apple haul from Target stores in Brooklyn and Long Island , a law enforcement official said . The arrests followed disclosures by Target that the retailer had been the victim of a major breach that may have exposed the credit and debit card data of as many of 40 million shoppers who patronized Target stores in the three weeks after Thanksgiving . The timing of the arrests and the Target breach prompted New York Police financial crimes investigators to alert the U.S. Secret Service which is investigating the Target breach . There is no indication that the Brooklyn arrests are related to the Target matter . Police and other local authorities routinely turn over information on credit card thefts to the Secret Service , which investigates such crimes . A Secret Service spokesman declined comment beyond saying the agency continues its investigation of the Target case . Law enforcement officials and experts said altering gift cards , or other so-called stored-value cards , is a favored way for scammers to launder money and stolen credit cards . Rather than making new fake credit cards with the stolen data , thieves use gift cards to avoid detection since cashiers are less likely to be suspicious . Point of sale machines in stores read the magnetic strip data and wo n't detect that a gift card is carrying stolen credit card data .
7 men arrested in New York Thursday after a traffic stop . Authorities probe whether altered gift cards used to buy Target products . Arrests follow Apple announcement it was victim of major credit card breach . No indication that Target and Brooklyn cases are related , however .