Florida Waitress Repays Bad Tippers By Stealing Credit-Card Info
A disgruntled waitress is at the heart of a credit-card skimming scam that has affected at least nine customers of a Port Richey, Fla., eatery known as Mugs N Jugs.
Food server Kathryn Shana'e Perez, 25, swiped the credit card information using a skimmer -- a small, handheld electronic device that scans and stores the card data from the magnetic strip. The information is then usually sold to use to make counterfeit cards.
The thefts took place from May 30 to June 23, Tampa Bay-area TV station WTSP reported, and detectives are looking for other Mugs N Jugs customers who make have been victims of Perez's actions.
The skimmer was given to Perez by her cousin, 25-year-old Brandon Quillen, who then used the stolen information to make new credit cards.
The new, fraudulent cards were then given to Quillen's 22-year-old ex-girlfriend to make more than $5,000 worth of purchases at area RadioShack and Walmart stores, WTSP reported.
When questioned about the thefts, Perez told Pasco County Sheriff's Office detective John Suess that the customers from whom she stole the information, essentially, deserved it.
"She identified that the people she skimmed were the ones that ... ran her around and made her work real hard and the ones that were bad tippers," Suess told the Newport Richey Patch.
"The bad tippers story doesn't quite jive because the tip wouldn't have been left until after she returned the card," Suess said. "It was comical."
The trio have been arrested and face multiple charges, including fraudulent use of a credit card.
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David Schepp
David Schepp has spent more than a dozen years covering business news for the electronic and print media, including Dow Jones Newswires, BBC News, Gannett Co., and most recently at AOL's DailyFinance. Nearly 10 years ago, he started writing a weekly People@Work column, looking in depth at issues facing workers in today's workplace. Follow David on Twitter. Email David at david.schepp@huffingtonpost.com. Add David to your Google+ circles.
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