Waiters Indicted on Credit Card Fraud
It’s one of those stories that you hope to God you never become a part of - as the unwitting victim, that is. This is one of the most heinous and gutsy credit card fraud stories I’ve heard in quite a while, and it will definitely have you thinking a little more about the integrity of those waiting on you and serving you in a public restaurant, retail environment, or anywhere else where random people have access to your credit card number and personal information, which is just about everywhere nowadays!
I have no idea if this was a big recruitment effort by a mastermind, but it sounds like it most likely was, because it involves waiters and waitresses in about 40 different restaurants, spread throughout the US, which would imply is was a master scheme.
The whole scheme went something like this. People stole other people’s credit card information to make counterfeit credit cards. They then purchased items with the credit cards, and someone else then bought the stolen items for cash.
Then it gets even crazier. The mastermind(s) recruited people in restaurants to steal their patron’s credit card information with small, undetectable handheld devices that could scan for the information (way too high tech and scary to imagine).
The waiters would receive anywhere between 35 to 50 dollars for each credit card that they scanned, giving them incentive to scan as many credit cards as they could. I’d like to know who in their right mind thinks this is ok and how they could get away with it, not the least worry being selling your soul for a little cash! Makes prepaid credit cards look pretty darn good, doesn’t it?
