Walmart Busts Three Men for Fraud After Accidentally Selling Them Empty Computer Boxes
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Associated Press
CHANDLER, Ariz. — Three men from Mexico have been arrested in what authorities are calling a stolen credit card scam.
Adolfo Paz Gracia, 35, Javier Carreno Cruz, 29, and Jose Diaz Valenzuela, 29, were booked into Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix on three counts of forgery and one count of fraud schemes each.
Chandler police responded Sunday to a Wal-Mart store when employees reported three men bought a laptop computer and returned with an empty box, claiming a laptop was never in it.
Thinking the men were attempting to defraud the store, store employees called police.
When police arrived, one of the men ran away. During the chase, he threw credit cards to the ground. Police recovered the cards and determined they were forgeries.
Authorities say further investigation showed the three had 19 forged credit cards, which they allegedly had used to buy electronic items from other Wal-Mart stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The counterfeit credit cards were encoded with valid stolen credit card numbers and police say an investigation is ongoing to identify the account holders.
Store employees later discovered they had indeed sold an empty box to the three men.