Here's a Follow Up to my April 3rd Post:

The charges began appearing on their credit card bills after they had eaten at well-known Washington restaurants: thousands of dollars for televisions and iPods at Target; hundreds more for American Express gift cards at Giant Food.

The cardholders, who hadn't made any of those purchases, called their banks, which contacted the U.S. Secret Service. Agents then tracked the fraudulent transactions back to the restaurants, prosecutors said.

It turned out that some servers at those restaurants -- Clyde's, M&S Grill and 701 -- had used hand-held skimming devices to steal credit card numbers and give them to three men, who used the numbers to buy purses and clothing at Gucci and Barneys, along with games and other merchandise. Numerous diners got stuck with the bill -- a $736,393 tab.


Federal prosecutors in Alexandria announced yesterday that eight people have pleaded guilty over the past two months in the conspiracy, a scheme that led to thousands of transactions with stolen credit card
numbers affecting more than 50 financial institutions. After realizing that it was all a scam, the banks absorbed the losses, officials said.


Among those who pleaded guilty and are facing up to five years in prison are three former servers at M&S Grill, one from Clyde's Restaurant and one from 701 Restaurant. Court documents said three
Maryland men, who pleaded guilty to charges including bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, conceived of the scam. One of the men paid the servers $20 for each swiped credit card number.



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