December 28, 2009
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News: CC Fraud; How Do They Do It? 29
An Alabama door to door salesman stole his customers' credit card information for use in identity theft. Christopher McKinley Usher sold his victims an AT&T U-verse, a cable television product. After completion of the sale, Usher called another individual who was his accomplice posing as an AT&T employee. Usher handed the phone to his victims and asked them to verify their credit card account information to the AT&T employee. One of the victims noticed unauthorized transactions on her card statement and immediately contacted the police. In checking Usher out, police discovered he was wanted by the U.S. Marshall on unrelated charges and that he had purchased airline tickets. The authorities immediately notified the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation and Safety Administration to head him off at the airport. Usher was arrested last Thursday by Jefferson and Shelby County Deputies and is charged with fraudulent use of a credit card.
A Washington State woman is charged with first-degree identity theft for stealing four of her ex-boyfriend's credit cards and charging over $14,000 in fraudulent charges. Dana Dilts-Howell was arrested by the Douglas County Prosecutor's Office after the man reported that his credit cards were stolen from his file drawer. The man said there had not been any break-in in his home and that the ex-girlfriend was the only person who had access to the cards. Surveillance photos showed Dilts-Howell using the stolen cards to pay for her PUD bill. She was arrested on a warrant for petty larceny. At the time of her arrest, police found the stolen cards in Dilts-Howell's purse. She faces 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Fayetteville, North Carolina police are on the lookout for a counterfeit credit card criminal with stolen numbers from Americans living in Missouri and Florida. The unidentified man is in his mid to late 20's, average build, and nearly six foot tall. Last seen he had a mustache and goatee.