ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A woman was sentenced to 16 months in prison Wednesday for engaging in a credit card scheme in which she fraudulently received almost $120,000 in cash advances from local credit unions and banks and used the money for plane tickets, rental cars, hotel rooms and a spending spree at a downtown boutique clothing store.
Amber Marquardt, 25, of Oakland, Calif., worked in concert with others to pull off the scheme, in which cash advances were fraudulently obtained at financial institutions using stolen and canceled credit cards and phony IDs. Prosecutors say Marquardt and her co-conspirators used the same scheme at stores to obtain services.
Marquardt got the cash, goods and services over approximately eight days in the summer of 2009, according to court records. On a single day in June 2009, Marquardt went to four different branches – including Northern Skies FCU and Denali Alaskan FCU – and obtained $8,000 at each one. The next day, court records say, she obtained a total of $13,000 at two other branches. Other credit union victims were Alaska USA FCU and Credit Union One.
When the stolen credit cards were declined, a call was made on a personal cell phone or from a courtesy phone to a conspirator that falsely claimed to be a representative of the credit union or bank. The phone was given to the cashier or teller and the conspirator on the phone would direct the cashier or teller to bypass the denial of the card and allow the transaction, giving detailed instructions on how to override the declination of the credit card.
Marquardt and another woman, who also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, fraudulently obtained about $117,160 in cash, services and merchandise. Marquardt returned to Alaska in late July and used bogus credit cards to obtain $5,524 in services.
