IMGCAP(1)]
Three Florida men have been arrested for allegedly using counterfeit cards to make more than $100,000 in fraudulent purchases at Wal-Mart discount stores near Tallahassee, Fla., according to the Leon County Sheriff's Office, which expects that dollar figure to increase as the investigation continues. Authorities arrested the men Feb. 9 following a three-month investigation the office conducted in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service and the Tallahassee Police Department. The sheriff's office alleges that Timothy J. Johns, Jeremy A. Frazier and Tony Acreus encoded counterfeit Visa gift cards with stolen card numbers to buy merchandise they later sold for cash. Each man was charged with grand theft and fraud to obtain property valued at more than $50,000. Each also faces several counts of fraudulent use of a credit card and fraudulent use of personal identification. The card data used in the thefts came from information stolen last year when hackers infiltrated Heartland Payment Systems Inc.'s processing network (CardLine, 1/20), says the sheriff's office. More arrests are likely, the office says.
