Bank tellers, restaurant workers and other service employees in New York lifted credit card data from residents and foreign tourists as part of an identity theft ring that stretched to China, Europe and the Middle East and victimized thousands.
In total, 111 people were arrested and more than 85 are in custody; the others are still being sought. Five separate criminal enterprises operating out of Queens were dismantled. They were hit with hundreds of charges, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, calling it the largest fraud case he’d ever seen in his two decades in office.
At least three bank workers, retail employees and restaurant workers would steal credit card numbers in a process known as skimming, in which workers take information from when a card is swiped for payment and illegally sell the credit card numbers. Different members of the criminal enterprise would steal card information online. This form of theft has become quite common.
I wonder if thorough background checks were performed before these employees were hired. Often, in these type of cases, employers learn (after it’s too late) employees had a criminal background.
The numbers were then given to teams of manufacturers, who would forge Visas, MasterCards, Discover and American Express cards. Realistic identifications were made with the stolen data.
The plastic would be given to teams of criminal “shoppers” for spending sprees at higher-end stores including Apple, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. The groups would then resell the merchandise oversees to locations in China, Europe and the Middle East.
All told, more than $13 million was spent on iPads, iPhones, computers, watches and fancy handbags from Gucci and Louis Vuitton, authorities said. The suspects also charged pricey hotel rooms and rented private jets and fancy cars, prosecutors said.
Detectives with language skills spent hours translating Russian, Farsi and Arabic during the investigation, Kelly said.
Part of the problem, especially for foreign tourists in the U.S., is that, unlike overseas, credit card companies in the U.S. do not install special microchips that make skimming more difficult, said Deputy Inspector Gregory Antonsen of the NYPD’s organized theft and identity theft task force. But he said the companies work with police to help fight theft.
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