A woman from North Carolina surrendered herself on Tuesday after participating in a fraudulent scheme that involved Lowe’s credit cards and resulted in a total value of over $11,700.
The suspects would proceed by accessing the victims’ accounts through the Lowe’s app and acquiring barcodes containing the account numbers. Upon entering a Lowe’s store, they would use the barcodes on their smartphones to purchase gift cards. The affidavit mentioned that the purchases would include both small dollar items and gift cards.
During the investigation, authorities discovered that a suspect had been using a barcode linked to a Lowe’s account to carry out fraudulent transactions at a Lowe’s store in Gainesville. Upon further examination of the account, it was found that a phone number, referred to as SYB, had been used to access the account. However, it was determined that this phone number did not belong to the cardholder. Subsequently, the phone number was cross-checked with the SYB database, which revealed that it had been used to fraudulently access a total of 29 Lowe’s accounts. These 29 accounts had all experienced fraudulent transactions across various locations in Florida, as stated in the affidavit.
Lowe’s Loss Prevention provided surveillance footage of the fraudulent transactions. On April 16, 2023, Daniels and another individual entered the Lowe’s store in Mount Dora, located at 18795 U.S. Hwy. 441. At 2:32 p.m., they approached the self-checkout terminal, as stated in the affidavit.
Daniels had a collection of gift cards with her while the man was carrying a container of laundry detergent. When Daniels tried to purchase the gift cards, she was unable to do so as she did not have her photo ID with her. Meanwhile, the man proceeded to scan the detergent at the checkout. However, Daniels came up with a clever solution – she scanned the barcode on her smartphone, which was linked to the victim’s Lowe’s account. As a result, the transaction came to a total of $20.51, according to the affidavit.
On that very day, Daniels and the man visited another Lowe’s store located at 9540 U.S. Hwy. 441 in Leesburg. They approached the self-checkout terminal at 2:57 p.m. During this instance, she scanned two $500 gift cards for purchase and completed a fraudulent transaction worth $1,011.90 by scanning the barcode linked to the victim’s account on her smartphone.
Daniels and the man returned to the same store an hour later, heading back to the self-checkout terminal. Daniels had in her possession several gift cards, while the man carried a pack of light bulbs. With precision, Daniels scanned the light bulbs and five $500 gift cards. It was at 3:54 p.m. when she swiftly scanned the barcode linked to the victim’s account on her phone, initiating the fraudulent transaction of $2,564.27, as detailed in the affidavit.
Daniels wasted no time as she swiftly scanned two additional $500 gift cards. Just moments later, she scanned the barcode once again for yet another transaction, this time totaling $1,013.90, as stated in the affidavit.
During the fraudulent transactions, she held her smartphone in hand, which displayed the barcode and Lowe’s credit card image. She actively participated as the main individual in an organized scheme aimed at defrauding and misusing credit card information. The fraudulent activities followed a consistent pattern, wherein the same stolen credit card information was systematically used to obtain similar valuable items on eight different occasions across multiple locations within a span of two days.
On Tuesday afternoon, Daniels voluntarily surrendered herself to the Lake County Jail. She was charged with organized fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card, and grand theft (less than $20k). After posting a bond of $7,500, she was released.
