Fake Nurses, Fake Patients and Other Strange Credit Card Crimes
At least she didn't prescribe any fake medicine.
The police are searching for a fake nurse who stole some very real credit cards. According to Orlando's NBC-WESH 2 News, in Florida's Lake and Volusia counties, there has been a woman donning a nurse's scrubs and lurking in at least four hospitals. Judging from the security footage, the woman has made her way to the employee lounge, where she has managed to swipe credit cards from her "colleagues."
Then she has used the credit cards at stores like--and this is kind of fitting given her theme--CVS Pharmacy.
But doctors need to be careful, too
Fake nurses aren't only out there. Beware of fake patients.
In Coral Springs, Fla., Taneisha Zondra Howard, 36, was arrested for stealing a doctor's credit card while the doctor was presumably treating a patient in need.
Coral Springs police began their investigation after the theft was reported. Evidently a woman visited the office of Dr. Bridget Silva on July 18. The woman, who was not a patient there, bypassed three doors to sneak into the doctor's office to steal her Louis Vuitton wallet containing her credit cards as well as personal items valued at more than $1,100.
Silva, who had never treated Howard for anything, did not realize her wallet and cards had been stolen until she returned home that night to a message from her bank about suspicious purchases on her credit cards.
Is nothing sacred?
Apparently. In any case, kudos to the customs officers at the Sofia Airport in Sofia, Bulgaria, for thoroughly checking everything that comes past them. According to the Sofia Echo, an English-language newspaper about Bulgaria, customs officials found credit card skimming devices, which were on their way to Virginia, hidden&wait for it&in a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Is nothing sacred? Part II
Someone should send Robert Lay and his family a condolence card. Well, two. One for the loss of a beloved family member, and a second for the loss of their own valuables earlier this month.
It was bad enough that Lay, according to TV station WALA, was attending his cousin's funeral in Milton, Fla. Worse, approximately 50 yards away from the service, a thief was breaking into Lay's car. Lay's wife's purse--which contained his ID, his credit cards and $500 in cash--was swiped from the floor of the unlocked car.
Four other mourners' cars were broken into as well.
The thief or thieves were pretty brazen. While at least three cars were unlocked, according to the website NorthEscambia.com, one of the cars had a side window punched out.
But it just may be that we live in a society where, unfortunately, at our most vulnerable, we need to be the most on guard. Because&
Really? Nothing is sacred?
At another memorial service earlier this month, this time near Athens, Ga., reports WSB-TV Atlanta, someone broke into a government van and stole valuables from six members of an honor guard, which, if you're not familiar with the term, is a group of volunteers who generally perform military honors at ceremonies, often funerals.
So as friends and family said goodbye to a retired Air Force veteran, the honor guard performed their duties, unaware that they would soon say goodbye to their valuables. A thief was rooting through their van and taking their wallets, cell phones, jewelry and credit cards, one of which was soon used at a gas station.
Boy, all of this stealing at funeral is making this column a sudden downer. If only we had a dumb crook story to cheer us up. Hey, wait a minute. This next one is close&
Watch whose credit card you're stealing
In late July, in this column, we mentioned a guy who unwittingly stole an FBI agent's credit card. It's up for debate as to whether this is worse, or just as bad. Either way, here's a free tip to any would-be credit card thief: Not a good idea to steal credit card numbers from a United States Secret Service employee.
And it's twice as bad an idea when you target two Secret Service employees.
Not that Brian Keith Adams, Jr., 21, realized that's what he had done. But as the Baltimore Sun recently reported, he was working as a waiter at a TGI Friday's in Laurel, Md., and was skimming customers' credit cards with a hand-held device, and then selling the information to others who made unauthorized purchases, which resulted in stealing $42,000 from 73 people.
And two of those 73 people work for the Secret Service, an organization that, well, kind of knows something about investigating wrong-doing.
If convicted, Adams will be going to prison for a long, long time. But on the bright side, maybe he can get a job working in the prison cafeteria.
The original article can be found at CardRatings.com:Fake nurses, fake patients and other strange credit card crimes