Moore Police Shut Down Counterfeit Credit Card Operation

A massive counterfeit credit card operation was shut down by Moore police, and federal investigators say their victims are spread across the country.

Tuesday, August 25th 2015, 10:13 pm

By: News 9


A massive counterfeit credit card operation was shut down by Moore police, and federal investigators say their victims are spread across the country.  

Police received a call about a suspicious group of men buying dozens of gift cards at a Wal-Mart in Moore.

Tens of thousands worth of gift cards were recovered.  

When the group went back for a second day, an arrest was made. That led investigators to another big bust.

Police stopped 21-year-old Juan Giraldo on Interstate 35 after leaving a Wal-Mart parking lot. 

Inside the car, investigators found those gift cards, as well as information that led them to a storage unit.  

“This was not a rinky-dink operation. They’ve been doing this for a while. They have a lot of expensive equipment, and know what they’re doing,” Moore police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said.

Re-encoded counterfeit credit and debit cards along with credit card manufacturing equipment, and gas pump skimming devices found inside.

“$500 to $1,000, sometimes more on every card. All the cards have money on them,” Lewis said.

It wasn't just gift cards either. Police said stolen cash was loaded on to Wal-Mart gas cards.  

“Quite a few victims,” Lewis said. “Not just people, but businesses, (and) different organizations.”

Skimmers were placed at gas station pumps across the metro making carbon copies of the cards.

Investigators say from there, the suspects went on a spending spree all while the victim's card was still in their wallet.

“They’re going through that now trying to determine, one, how much money there is, where some of these credit cards were used at, different things like that,” Lewis said.

Federal prosecutors are looking to file charges against at least five people in the sophisticated skimming scheme. Police say the other suspects on the run may be from Florida.

So far, Giraldo is the only one who's been arrested.

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