Ame-X Marks The Spot

It is the late 2000s. We get a corporate memo about a fraud ring hitting stores in multiple states. They use stolen credit cards to order expensive TVs, laptops, and gaming consoles for “pickup” or “delivery” to shady addresses. They’d do things like give an apartment number, then meet the delivery in the lobby, claiming the elevator was out. Losses were running into the tens of thousands.

A few days later, the phone rings. Big order, I mean massive.

Caller: “Can you deliver this to Newark?”

Me: “Sure. Let me get your credit card details.”

They give me a Mastercard. I ask for a callback number to confirm the delivery address. There’s a pause.

Caller: “Uh… let me give you a Visa instead.”

Me: “Okay… but Visa requires a callback number, too.”

Caller: “I’ll call you back.” *Click.*

That was all the confirmation I needed. I called our head office and said:

Me: “I think it’s the crew from the memo.”

The M.O. matched perfectly. Corporate told me:

Corporate: “If they call back, see if you can get an Amex instead, but don’t ask for the callback number this time. Just set it up.”

Sure enough, hours later, they call back. My assistant answers and takes the order and they use a brand-new Amex and boom, the eye-watering total goes through. I phone corporate, and they start working with the FBI.

Here’s how it went down:

Our delivery crew drove to the drop-off point, but first they stopped to load a half-dozen armed federal agents into the back of the truck. When they arrived, the woman taking delivery signed the bill of lading… and that was the signal. The FBI swarmed out of the truck and arrested her and four accomplices on the spot. No resistance, just pure shock on their faces.

A few weeks later, I got envelopes from Mastercard, Visa, and Amex, each one with a “thank you” reward check for recovering stolen cards.