The FBI arrested eight men and charged them with fraudulently using consumer credit cards to buy as much as a million dollars in merchandise from stores in Northeast Ohio – including Home Depot, Staples, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and Sears.
In the scheme, an inmate at a federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J. used a cell phone to access and alter existing credit card accounts. He added new users to other accounts, then those new users would make big-ticket purchases at the stores.
The inmate was persistent in calling customer service until he was successful in gaining access to someone else’s account. He then would modify the account and make one of new users – men in the Cleveland area – authorized users. At times he would use public information, along with guesswork, to gain access to the credit card accounts.
A large amount of property purchased under the scheme was seized from a house in Cleveland. There was so much stored there that several trucks were needed to haul it away. Two men in that home were arrested. One was “in arm’s length of a handgun,” and the other was “sleeping with a shotgun.”
All the men arrested are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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