ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – St. Johns County deputies are seeking two men wanted in connection with a credit card scheme that targeted multiple customers who ate at Ichiban Chinese Buffet in early January.
Financial Crimes detectives began investigating when several victims who ate at the the restaurant on U.S. 1 South between Jan. 5 and 11 reported fraudulent activity on their credit cards. About a week later, two unknown subjects used the skimmed credit card numbers encoded into counterfeit cards to purchase gift cards from businesses throughout northeast and central Florida.
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The cards were primarily used at home improvement businesses or grocery stores to purchase $500 gift cards.
The two people detectives are looking for are described as:
Asian man (possibly Chinese) between 45 and 55 years old with short/close-croped/well-groomed black hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 160 to 180 pounds.
Asian man (possibly Chinese), 25 to 30 years old with short/bushy/well-groomed black hair and brown eyes. He is 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs between 145 and 170 pounds.
It appears the person who skimmed the physical cards was a temporary waiter at the Ichiban Buffet and stayed only long enough to collect multiple card numbers.
Detectives also believe that these two suspects are associated with a larger group of at least four suspects and other small groups committing this type of crime throughout the area.
Anyone who could identify these suspects is asked to contact Detective Kevin Greene at 904-209-3988, or by email kgreene@sjso.org. You can also remain anonymous and possible be eligible for a cash reward by calling Crime Stoppers at 888-277-TIPS.