Dec 27, 2007 6:31 pm US/Central
Wendy's Worker Charged In Credit Card Scam
PLAINFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
A woman who worked at a suburban Wendy's fast food restaurant has been charged in a credit card scam. She is accused of dirty dealing when customers used credit cards to pay for food. Investigators said she swiped the card, and a whole lot more.
As CBS 2 West Suburban Bureau Chief Mike Puccinelli reports, authorities say the thefts happened in late September and early October when 18-year-old Tina Swopes was working the drive-up window at the Plainfield Wendy's at 134th Street and South Route 59.
"We have seven victims that we know of," said Jim Caliendo of the Plainfield Police Department.
Swopes now faces seven counts of identity theft. Caliendo says it was a sophisticated theft operation the likes of which he's never seen in his 17 years on the force.
"She had the credit card shimming device in her pocket," he said.
What Swopes had in her pocket was a credit card reading device. They're available on the Internet for less than $100 in many cases. Police say Swopes would take orders and swipe cards through the restaurant's credit card reader. Then she'd swipe it through her own credit card reader. After that police say she'd go home and allegedly hook her reader up to her laptop to access the numbers.
"She would download the information in a computer and she would download that information on a dummy credit card where she would make purchases with that credit card," Caliendo said.
Wendy's International released a statement saying "Miss Swopes is no longer employed by Wendy's. We are doing everything we can to assist police in their investigation."
Police fear there may be many more victims because they say Swopes admitted to swiping and stealing the numbers from between 40 and 50 Wendy's customers.
"If anybody believes they were a victim of this crime, they need to contact the Plainfield Police Department," Caliendo said.
Police won't put an exact figure on the crime, but estimate Swopes scammed people out of several thousand dollars.
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