NEWARK — A Kissimmee man is facing charges in a case involving hundreds of fraudulent credit cards and gift cards, according to a criminal complaint.
Robert Merced, 46, was arrested at the New Jersey airport after TSA agents noticed cards with different people’s names in his checked luggage.
That’s when Orlando police and the Secret Service got involved.
On a flight out of Orlando to Newark, Merced didn’t even realize his luggage was back in Orlando.
Inside the luggage, TSA agents found hundreds of credit cards as well as Visa and Mastercard gift cards in different people’s names along with a fake ID and a magnetic card encoder.
When Merced landed in New Jersey, he was arrested with another fake ID and more credit cards.
The Secret Service said when questioned, he admitted the materials were his and said he bought the stolen credit card numbers from what’s called an online “dumpsite.”
Dumpsites are websites people in the criminal world go to buy stolen credit card information.
The Secret Service said there are likely hundreds of these sites, mostly on the dark web, selling hundreds of credit card numbers, where one good number could sell for a couple hundred dollars.
Investigators said the numbers are often stolen from skimming devices. The most common place: gas pumps.
But your credit card number could also be stolen during online transactions, online phishing schemes, or even during a company’s data breach.
In Merced’s case, he told investigators he paid for his stolen credit card information and card-making materials using the online currency bitcoin.
Cox Media Group
