Deputies: Traffic stop leads to 2 arrests in counterfeit credit card operation

2 South Florida men face counterfeit charges

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – An early-morning traffic stop in Orange Park Monday led to two arrests in an organized counterfeit credit card operation, according to the Clay County Sheriff's Office.

Two South Florida men are now facing counterfeit charges.

Deputies said Ronal Garcia, 19, and Luis Garcia, 27, were both in possession of more than 40 counterfeit credit cards, each encoded with an actual credit card number and the cardholder name of a different person.

Christopher Hamer, a cybersecurity expert, said he's familiar with this scam.

"It is a multimillion-dollar industry," Hamer said.

He said typically criminals obtain credit card account numbers off the black market.

"There’s a piece of hardware that allows them to encode that information on the magnetic stripe on the rear of the card," Hamer said. "As long as the front of the card matched the ID of the person presenting it or something close, then whoever's using the card only has to present an ID that matched the front."

Those black market account numbers actually come from store data breaches.

"Most of the vendors that have been compromised are reluctant to come forward and say their database has been compromised," Hamer said.

Because merchants won't always admit to a data breach, consumers have to protect themselves, according to the Better Business Bureau. 

"You just need to be aware of what you're putting out there at all times as far as your credit card information or personal identifiable information," said Shannon Nelson, communications coordinator for the BBB.

Online shoppers need to make sure they are on a secure and legitimate website. Check statements for unusual charges, because criminals will test a card number to see if it works.

"Even if seems like a little amount, like, they didn’t go and charge $200, but they just verified that your account was active," Nelson said.

Experts also advise people to watch the news to learn if skimming devices have been located on machines that accept credit cards, such as ATMs or card readers on gas station pumps.


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