Identity Theft Drives $7,000 Taco Bell Purchase

A Georgia woman paid the equivalent of over
$7,000 for her recent fast food purchase using
the drive thru window.

That's right, $7,000 from the result of her
Taco Bell purchase - not because she was very
hungry - but rather due to an eager identity
thief who stole her account information.

It seems the identity thief, while working the
drive thru lane for Taco Bell, was illegally
"skimming" unsuspecting customer's
credit and debit card information.















She was what we refer to as a simple identity
theft "collector" who actually does not make
the fraudulent purchases, but passes the stolen
data on to an accomplice who does the fraud.

As a result, she was rapidly capturing and
forwarding the stolen identities to an accomplice
who would then utilize the stolen data to
subsequently defraud the unsuspecting customers
bank accounts.

Unlike credit cards, your debit card tied to a
banking account, can have unlimited liability
up to the amount of available funds - especially
if you do not contact the bank within 1 week or
less of the fraud event.

This is how the Georgia woman came to lose over
$7,000 through a series of fraudulent
withdrawals from her bank account.

Evidently this was a very profitable operation
for the identity thieves as the accomplice was
willing to pay "$1,000 for every 50 card
numbers stolen" which translated into
$200 per individual victim.

The identity theft accomplice, operating as a
"transactor", was later found to have been
engaged in recruiting fast food drive thru
workers all across the greater Atlanta
area.

No wonder, with his ability to generate a
$7,000 return from an initial $200
investment, identity theft was a more
profitable venture than most other forms
of criminal activity.

So, our tip for today is it's better to pay cash
for fast food purchases - especially late at night
when only the drive thru window is open at your
favorite munchie haven.

Also, to aid Atlanta area law enforcement officers
engaged in the continuing investigation behind
this latest identity theft scam, citizens with
any information or who may have now
discovered they have been similarly
scammed after using a Taco Bell
should contact the local police tip line.

That tip line number is (404)583-3086.