Three arrested in connection with nationwide fake cash card scam

CHARLOTTE — A nationwide retail theft ring has made its way to Charlotte.

Police said three men stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a Lowe’s using a fake cash card in April.

Channel 9′s Genevieve Curtis spoke with Anthony Finocchio with the Organized Retail Theft Task Force about this case.

Finocchio told Curtis that the men were tied to a bigger scam and had been captured on surveillance video running this scam at stores throughout the country, including Arizona and Minnesota.

“I have not seen a card like this. It looks like a wells fargo card. It’s a totally fake card and it looks 100 percent real. On the back, it has instructions for what to tell the clerk to punch in,” Finocchio explained.

Investigators said the scam uses fake cards to trick the clerk into thinking the customer is paying with a cash card. However, suspects walk out of the store with a receipt for products but end up leaving the register short thousands of dollars.

The money gained in this scam is then funneled back into other illegal activities.

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“Recently retail theft has skyrocketed. This is a bigger scope than just stealing products. They aren’t victimless crimes. What you don’t see is the people who commit these crimes, their arrest histories,” Finocchio said.

Elizabeth Robinson, with the North Carolina Retail Merchants Associated, told Channel 9 that these crimes are getting more sophisticated and are costing businesses more. But the customers are the ones who end up paying for it.

“As we’ve seen these incidents increase the dollar thresholds, and have also increased the amount of product that’s been stolen. So at a time when consumers are already confronted with increased costs due to inflation, this adds one more layer that contributes to increased costs at the checkout,” Robinson explained.

In December, a new state law took effect with tougher penalties for organized retail theft. While Finnochio acknowledges this tool, the siad there still needs to be more accountability in the justice system.

It’s mindboggling when I see people’s arrest history and they have been arrested 150 times doing the same thing over and over,” Finocchio said.

Nationwide, companies have reported losing an average of $720,000 per $1 billion in sales.

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