Puyallup credit-card skimming scam compromised 900+ cards, drained accounts
Fraud investigators looking into devices that steal credit- or debit-card information in Puyallup recently found that over 900 cards were compromised in a scheme police have tied to two men accused of stealing thousands of dollars from their victims.
The alleged fraudsters are suspected to have targeted 7-Eleven convenience stores with devices known as credit-card skimmers, then used the data to make withdrawals at ATMS in March and April, according to charging documents filed Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court.
One victim lost $15,500 over a month and another had $12,800 stolen. Documents don't describe where the skimming devices were placed.
Prosecutors have charged a 53-year-old man and a 39-year-old man each with two counts of first-degree identity theft and two counts of first-degree theft.
Puyallup police arrested the older man Tuesday while he was shopping on Meridian after detectives found he was associated with a vehicle identified in a separate credit-card skimming investigation. He was located with the help of the city's FLOCK license-plate readers.
A plea of not guilty to the charges was entered on his behalf at arraignment Thursday. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille ordered him held at Pierce County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
That defendant's criminal history includes convictions in Romania and Hungary. According to the probable cause document, he was fined for complicity to counterfeit documents in 2004 in Hungary, was convicted of fraud in 2006 in Romania and was convicted for smuggling migrants in 2010 in Romania.
The younger man has not yet been arrested, according to court records. He was reportedly encountered by Canadian law enforcement in October while with a 'known smuggler' attempting to enter the United States illegally.
Detectives began investigating the case in March when they were contacted by a fraud investigator from BECU, according to the probable cause document. The investigator's team was compiling surveillance footage of suspects completing ATM withdrawals with cards believed to have been compromised at area 7-Eleven locations.
Images of the suspects were sent to a nationwide email distribution list that specializes in those types of investigations. Detectives were contacted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the suspects.
The U.S. Secret Service also reportedly contacted detectives about the older suspect more recently using a different last name. This helped police connect him to a separate fraud investigation in Puyallup where officers found he was renting a black Nissan Rogue. Officers placed an alert for the vehicle on the city's FLOCK database, and a camera captured the vehicle Tuesday traveling on Meridian.
Credit-card skimmers can be found at fuel pumps, ATMs and other point-of-sale terminals, according to the FBI. Some are installed within the terminal, and others fit over the card reader. In some cases, customers' PIN numbers are recorded through pinhole cameras or keylogging keypad overlays.
The devices store customer information to be downloaded or wirelessly transferred later. The data is then used to create fake payment cards to make unauthorized purchases or steal from an account.
When the older suspect was arrested, police searched his vehicle and found a visa gift card. A police officer wrote in a report that these types of cards with magnetic strips can easily be programmed.
According to the probable cause document, the man asked police during his arrest how they caught him.
'I explained we knew what car he was driving,' a police officer wrote in a report. 'He again inquired, 'How?' I replied, 'Police work.' He seemed impressed and said, 'Good work …''
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Detective wasn't interested in the truth, had ‘fundamental misunderstanding' of consent laws, Crown tells judge at Hockey Canada trial
LONDON, Ont.—The police detective who first investigated allegations of sexual assault by members of the 2018 Canadian world junior championship team didn't understand the legal definition of consent and didn't have 'a genuine interest' in the truth, the Crown argued at the players' trial . Det. Steve Newton, who at the time was with the London police's sexual assault and child abuse section, declined to lay charges in February 2019 following an eight-month investigation, which included interviewing the complainant several times and most of the hockey players now on trial, as well as reviewing surveillance and other video evidence. London police documents make clear the high-profile sex assault investigation was reopened in 2022 due to 'a resurgence in media attention' — with London police documents make clear the high-profile sex assault investigation was reopened in 2022 due to 'a resurgence in media attention' — with As the Star first reported last month , Newton had doubts about the complainant's assertion that she was too drunk to consent, and wondered in his report where she had been an 'active participant' when engaging sexually with players in a room at the Delta Armouries hotel in the early hours of June 19, 2018. He reviewed the evidence with his superior before deciding not to lay charges. The force reopened their probe with a different detective in charge, Lyndsey Ryan, amid intense public pressure in 2022 after TSN reported that Hockey Canada had quickly settled, for an undisclosed sum, the complainant's $3.5-million sexual lawsuit filed against the organization and eight unnamed John Doe players. Michael McLeod, Alex Formenton, Carter Hart, Dillon Dube, and Cal Foote were then charged with sexual assault in 2024. In written arguments filed as part of closing submissions happening all week at the judge-alone trial , Crown attorneys Meaghan Cunningham and Heather Donkers argue that Newton had a 'fundamental misunderstanding' of the legal definition of consent, and that the 'shortcomings' of his investigation help explain why the complainant testified she felt there were details about the night she wasn't comfortable sharing with Newton. The now-retired police officer testified at trial that because the complainant was 'participating in the acts that were occurring in the room without resisting, or you know, saying she didn't want to do it,' he concluded that she had been an 'active participant' with a 'certain level of consent' on her part. The Crown and defence have completed their evidence at the Hockey Canada sex assault trial. Here's what you need to know to catch up. The Crown and defence have completed their evidence at the Hockey Canada sex assault trial. Here's what you need to know to catch up. 'This answer reflects an incorrect understanding of what consent actually means in law, and this erroneous conclusion undoubtedly impacted how Det. Newton moved forward from there,' the prosecutors write. The arguments come in a set of filings the Crown has given to Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia as part of the prosecution's closing submissions, which continue Thursday. Written filings are more common in judge-alone trials. Carroccia is set to deliver her judgment in the case on July 24. The central issue is whether the complainant consented to the sexual activity in the room, with the Crown arguing this week that the players failed to take any reasonable steps to confirm the woman was consenting to each sexual act, and that the woman never made an 'affirmative, voluntary choice.' The complainant had met McLeod at Jack's Bar and returned to his room where they had consensual sex, only for multiple men to come in afterward, some prompted by a group chat text from McLeod about a '3 way.' A screenshot of a group chat involving members of Canada's 2018 world junior championship team. The Crown has alleged that McLeod had intercourse with the complainant a second time in the hotel room's bathroom; that Formenton separately had intercourse with the complainant in the bathroom; that McLeod, Hart and Dubé obtained oral sex from the woman; that Dubé slapped her naked buttocks, and that Foote did the splits over her head while she was on a bedsheet on the ground and his genitals 'grazed' her face — all without her consent. Part of Newton's reasoning that the complainant wasn't too drunk to consent was due to viewing surveillance footage from the Delta hotel lobby, where the complainant is seen walking up and down stairs unaided in heels. He testified that while he also obtained surveillance footage from Jack's, he never viewed it. The prosecutors argue the Jack's footage 'could have (and did) provided evidence' of how much alcohol the complainant drank that night, and 'other indicators of her level of intoxication,' though they don't specify. And although Newton obtained the complainant's clothing from the night in question, he never sent them off for forensic testing, and eventually returned them to her. Finally, Newton 'made only a passive effort' to interview the players who were in room 209 at the Delta, the Crown says. His report indicates that in the summer of 2018, he asked lawyer Danielle Robitaille — who was leading an independent probe into the matter for Hockey Canada — to pass along his message that he was interested in speaking with any players who were willing to talk. (Of the five accused men, the complainant had only been able to identify McLeod and Formenton, who were roommates at the Delta that night.) The players were 'compelled' to sit for an interview with Hockey Canada. But they weren't told the investigator knew police wanted access to her The players were 'compelled' to sit for an interview with Hockey Canada. But they weren't told the investigator knew police wanted access to her He interviewed all of the men on trial except for Hart, although at the time Foote was only treated as a witness to the sexual activity in the room. Newton told them upfront he had no grounds at that point to lay criminal charges. The men who admitted to sexual contact with the woman maintained it was consensual, and that she had been demanding to have sex with players — a version of events the Crown has asked the judge to reject as having been cooked up by the men after the fact. 'Det. Newton did not ask very many questions of the interviewees. Notably, he failed to ask them about whether there was any slapping or if anyone had done the splits on (the complainant), which were things she had reported in her initial police interview. The detective also did not ask any of the interviewees to consider turning over text messages that they referred to,' Cunningham and Donkers state. For example, Formenton told Newton that he had received a text from McLeod about a three-way, but he no longer had it as he had a new phone. But Newton didn't go back to McLeod to ask for that text. In his own interview with Newton, McLeod claimed he didn't know why men kept showing up to the room, and expressly denied that it was in response to messages from him. 'The interviews leave the clear impression that Det. Newton had made up his mind that there would never be grounds for charges (based on his erroneous or incomplete understanding of consent) and that he was conducting these interviews to say that he did, rather than with a genuine interest at getting at the truth,' the Crown argues. London police approached the case from a different angle in 2022: that the complainant only went along with the sexual activity because she was intimidated to be in a room full of men she didn't know, and that they should have known she wasn't actually consenting. One of the few new pieces of evidence was the players' group chat from 2018, which included McLeod's three-way text to his teammates in the early hours of June 19. The chat also included messages sent back and forth between players on June 26, 2018, that the Crown has argued is evidence of the men trying to unite on a false version of events. And because the police now believed they had grounds to lay charges, they obtained a warrant to get Robitaille's file from the Hockey Canada investigation, which included interviews with McLeod, Formenton, and Dube given under penalty of a lifetime ban from Hockey Canada activities if they refused to cooperate. Robitaille didn't tell them the police planned to get a warrant for her files. The men had refused to speak to police in 2022 to maintain their right to silence, but their interviews with Robitaille ended up in the hands of the police anyway. A different judge tossed those statements during pre-trial hearings last year, concluding that the 'unfair and prejudicial' way they were obtained harmed the men's right to a fair trial. Det. Ryan, who led the reopened police probe in 2022, testified as the last witness at trial that the complainant was 'quite upset' when she told her that her allegations were being once again investigated. 'I felt pretty bad because it felt like — I got the sense that I was opening up some wounds that she was trying to close,' Ryan said. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court of Canada to hear appeal in long-running Facebook privacy case
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to review a ruling that concluded Facebook broke federal privacy law by failing to adequately inform users of risks to their data when using the popular social media platform. Last September, the Federal Court of Appeal found Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, did not obtain the meaningful consent required by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act between 2013 and 2015. The decision overturned a 2023 Federal Court ruling. The Court of Appeal said Facebook invited millions of apps onto its platform and did not adequately supervise them. It found that the Federal Court's failure to engage with the relevant evidence on this point was an error of law. Privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne called the Court of Appeal decision an acknowledgment that international firms whose business models rely on users' data must respect Canadian privacy law. Facebook applied for a hearing at the Supreme Court, arguing the Court of Appeal took the wrong approach to consent and security safeguards under the privacy law. It said in a written application that, rather than evaluating Facebook's multi-layered efforts to obtain meaningful consent, the Court of Appeal focused myopically on the platform's privacy policy alone. The Supreme Court, following its usual practice, gave no reasons Thursday for agreeing to hear the case. A 2019 investigation report from then-federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien and his British Columbia counterpart cited major shortcomings in Facebook's procedures and called for stronger laws to protect Canadians. The probe followed reports that Facebook let an outside organization use a digital app to access users' personal information, which was then passed to others. The app, at one point known as "This is Your Digital Life," encouraged users to complete a personality quiz but collected information about the people who installed the app and data about their Facebook friends. Recipients of the information included the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which was involved in U.S. political campaigns and targeted messaging. About 300,000 Facebook users worldwide added the app, leading to the potential disclosure of the personal information of approximately 87 million others, including more than 600,000 Canadians, the commissioners' report said. The commissioners concluded that Facebook violated PIPEDA by failing to obtain valid and meaningful consent from installing users and their friends, and that it had "inadequate safeguards" to protect user information. Facebook disputed the investigation's findings. The company has said it tried to work with the privacy commissioner's office and take measures that would go above and beyond what other companies do. In early 2020, Therrien asked the Federal Court to declare Facebook had violated the law. A judge ruled the commissioner failed to establish that Facebook breached the law on meaningful consent. He also agreed with Facebook's argument that once a user authorizes it to disclose information to an app, the social media company's safeguarding duties under PIPEDA come to an end. In its decision, the Court of Appeal noted Facebook's contention that users read privacy policies presented to them when they sign up to social networking websites — something the judges called "a dubious assumption" given such documents can run to thousands of words. "Terms that are on their face superficially clear do not necessarily translate into meaningful consent," Justice Donald Rennie wrote for a three-member panel. "Apparent clarity can be lost or obscured in the length and miasma of the document and the complexity of its terms." In this case, Rennie said, a central question was whether a reasonable person "would have understood that in downloading a personality quiz (or any app), they were consenting to the risk that the app would scrape their data and the data of their friends, to be used in a manner contrary to Facebook's own internal rules (i.e. sold to a corporation to develop metrics to target advertising in advance of the 2016 U.S. election)." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2025. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
Miami Herald
7 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Parents make 10-year-old skip school to babysit 3 younger siblings, ND cops say
When authorities responded to a welfare check at a North Dakota home, a deputy said he looked through a glass door and saw children playing inside. Deputies then spoke with a 10-year-old child who was watching her three younger siblings on a Friday morning during school hours on March 27, according to a declaration of probable cause filed on June 4. The other children under the supervision of the school-age child were 4 years old, 1 year old and 6 months old, deputies said. A 6-year-old sibling was at school when they told the principal that the 10-year-old was not at school that day because they needed to babysit their youngest siblings, the probable cause statement said. The comment led the school to contact authorities. Deputies tried to contact both 26-year-old parents, but they didn't answer, court documents said. Attorney information for the parents was not listed. McClatchy News is not naming the parents to protect the identity of their children. Eventually, the 10-year-old was able to reach the father through Facebook Messenger, according to deputies. The father told the officer through video call that he thought it was OK for a 10-year-old to be at the Antler home alone and in charge of their younger siblings while he 'was at work for a few hours,' the probable cause said. Deputies observed garbage, insects and food waste littered throughout the home and said there were feces smeared on the walls. The mother said she was too busy to take care of the residence due to nursing school, according to the probable cause. Both parents are charged with one count of child neglect. They are scheduled to appear in court on July 1. Antler is a small town on the U.S.-Canadian border, about a 320-mile drive northwest from Fargo.
