Major credit card counterfeit ring busted by alert employee

As a merchant you and your employees are on the front lines when it comes to dealing with credit card fraud and theft. It may be rare when you encounter an actual theif but knowing what to look for can be the difference between a criminal getting away and getting arrested. An alert employee could be the person who takes down a major crime network as happened in Milwaukee in April of 2017.

Two men, Spencer Dixon and Eric Spann, used the dark web to get stolen credit card information and created cloned credit cards with them. Those cards were then given to others to go into stores and purchase gift cards and other items. They used an encoding device to constantly change the information stored on the magnetic strip figuring no one would check the actual numbers on the front. They were so confident that the real names of the people, or “mules” sent to purchase the items were used on the cards. It may have been a bit of reverse psychology as they presumed that law enforcement would believe that they were pseudonyms as every other case has been.

In most cases the mules would arrive in town, make their purchases and then leave town immediately. Simple but effective. The scheme also used regional numbers, that is when they came to Wisconsin they used numbers stolen from card holders in Wisconsin. Thus no fraud alerts were triggered. The crew would spend usually no more than 3 or 4 days in a state before moving on.

Dixon, a former professional basketball player, was in Milwaukee in 2017 for his first time running the show. They had arrived via the airport from Atlanta and had already purchased return tickets. There was just one problem, the names on the reservation did not match the names on the cards which was caught by a vigilant employee. Dixon made a mistake and used stolen cards to purchase the airline tickets. The airline was not able to prevent the crew from arriving in Milwaukee but the employee flagged the names. When they went to leave the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office was waiting for them.

When arrested Dixon claimed that he was in Milwaukee to try to get his clothing line sold in local stores. The crew, which included Spann and three others were found to have no only the encoding equipment on them but also 55 Wisconsinites credit card information. It was believed that the crew was responsible for 24 fraudulent transactions while in the area over three days. The crew were arrested and processed.

Spann and Dixon were released on bail. They claimed that they had turned to white collar crime due to poor upbringings and were struggling to make ends meet. Neither kept out of trouble. Spann was arrested again for credit card fraud in Minnesota in November 2017. He was caught with an encoder and was working with another mule. The pair had 52 gift cards worth thousands of dollars on them. Dixon was later arrested in Georgia with an illegal handgun, marijuana and $2,000.

Two of the mules pleaded guilty and served 100 days in prison with 2 years of probation. Spann and Dixon also pled guilty and received one year in prison and a year and a half of supervised probation as well as restitution. One mule pled not guilty.

If the airline employee had not checked the name on the card against the name of the reservation it is quite possible that this crew could still be out there. Merchants are allowed to check ID for anyone making a purchase so if you see signs of fraudulent activity it is better to be safe than sorry. Who knows, that simple act could bust a major operation and make you a hero.