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Suspects Bought $20,000 Worth Of Gift Cards At Walmart

suspects
The suspects (credit: Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department)

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department would like the public's help identifying three men suspected of credit card fraud.

According to the sheriff's department, on Oct. 9 three white men purchased over $20,000 in gift cards at the Walmart located at 10900 East Briarwood Avenue in Centennial using several different cloned credit card numbers.

"After speaking with several law enforcement agencies, the same suspects can be seen on surveillance at Target and gas stations throughout the metro area," the sheriff's department said in a statement. "Some of the gift card usage has been tracked to Arizona and New York."

An Arvada woman, who didn't want to be identified, was a victim of the scam.

"We were just really pretty shocked it happened to us," the woman said. "It's not a matter of if it will happen, it's when it will happen."

Cpt. Larry Ethridge with the Apapahoe County Sheriff's Department said the men may have used a device called a "scimmer." The scimmer reads credit cards as they're swiped at places like gas stations and then records the number. Ethridge says once the thieves have a card number they can print a duplicate card that's surprisingly realistic.

"They just have a machine that prints credit cards and prints all the information on there," he said. "There's just no way to really beat it once you put your credit card in there."

Additional Information From The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (720) 913-STOP (7867). Text to CRIMES (274637) then title DMCS.

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