An ERAD client recently shared details of a Case that showed how criminals continue leveraging technology to steal credit and debit cards and how our solution helped them to successfully bring restitution to a financial crime victim.
CASE STUDY
The Oklahoma City Police Department recently saw an increase in the number of stolen gift cards loaded with stolen credit & debit card information. Detective Randon Lowe (randon.lowe@okc.org) reported that he used ERAD’s Cloned Card and Balance Check features to document the crime and provide him with information needed to charge a suspect.
According to Detective Lowe, Patrol Officers made a traffic stop of a known vehicle on I-40. They had previous experience with this vehicle having seen fraudulent gift cards re-encoded with debit/credit card information. The officers used ERAD during the stop to identify stolen card information and subsequently to contact one of the victims.
As more cards were checked, a second officer from the White-Collar Division identified three additional victims whose identity and card information were encoded on the stolen gift cards. After contacting the victims, the team identified a pattern linking the stolen identities to various gas stations around the metro area. Detective Lowe spoke to several of the victim’s Banks, explained what happened and was able to assist them to get their money back.
“Without ERAD, none of the above would have been possible,” said Detective Lowe. “ERAD has proven to be an essential tool in helping us prosecute these concealment crimes and ultimately getting restitution for victims.”