Arrests made in credit-card skimming ring
Posted on August 28, 2007
Filed Under Fraud | 1 Comment
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating high-tech credit-card theft known as “skimming” being committed in El Paso. Secret Service officials would not discuss ongoing investigations but an El Paso Police Department document disclosed that 11 unnamed people have been arrested and three skimming rings were dismantled earlier this summer.Skimming is when criminals use small handheld devices to scan and record a credit card’s information that can then be downloaded via computer onto a counterfeit card. The scheme has increased in the last decade.
“The Secret Service has been combating this type of crime for many, many years,” said Edward Garcia, Agent in Charge of Secret Service office in El Paso.
The skim usually works like this: the victim’s credit card is taken by a crooked retail employee who will scan the card twice, once through the merchant’s point-of-sale device and through a skimmer device. The skim is usually at a bar or restaurant, where the card is out of the customer’s sight.
On June 4, the Secret Service sent an Intelligence Alert to El Paso police to be on the look out for the small skimmer devices, which are not illegal but can raise suspicion.
“It’s usually organized rings,” Garcia said speaking about skimming in general. “The people actually stealing the card information are low down in the chain. They get paid $20 to $50 a number they pass on the skimmer back to the ring leader who downloads it to a computer.
“They can do a number of things. They sell the data, even outside the country (or) they incode them onto stolen credit or gift cards. We know data has been sold to different organizations, anywhere from Africa to Russia,” Garcia said. According to a Police Department award nomination letter, the skimming rings in El Paso used the stolen credit card data to buy plasma television sets, computer equipment, iPods and gift cards ranging from several hundred up to $10,000. Secret Service agents, police detectives and the police Westside Tactical team used a confidential informant and surveillance as part of an investigation in June that led to the rings’ “upper hierarchy,” the letter stated. Investigators also found 62 pounds of cocaine, 13 pounds of marijuana, a skimming device, illegal credit cards and computer equipment during a search of a West Side home.
The letter named Detective Carlos Carrillo as Westside Regional Command Officer of the Month for June for his work on the case. Police referred questions to the Secret Service.
Customers can protect themselves by keeping an eye on their card at restaurants and other places, Garcia said. They should also keep tabs on purchases and monthly statements. If there is a problem, they should contact their credit card company.
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One Response to “Arrests made in credit-card skimming ring”
Stu stick to your guns because a lot of banks and credit card companies are even bigger crooks than the thieves that rip bank and credit card companies off. You are not responsible to pay ONE RED CENT! But some companies like American Express and Citibank will try to scare you into paying. Now Bank of America who is quite cozy with American Express is testing you. Threaten to sue them and go to the media if they don’t correct it. Also it is these banks AE, CITI and Bank of America that are the biggest crybabies when they get ripped off. Stay on them don’t let them screw you over.