Cashier, 5 others arrested in stolen credit card numbers

TAMPA - Hillsborough County sheriff's detectives have arrested a Walmart cashier and five other people accused of using stolen credit card numbers to buy $13,000 in store gift cards this week.

Detectives say that Walmart employee Elizabeth Robaina, 21, is the common factor in the thefts. The five suspects made 22 transactions at Robaina's register on Monday and 44 on Tuesday, the sheriff's office said.

Robaina worked at the store at 8220 N. Dale Mabry Highway. She was given money from the suspects for participating in the scheme, detectives say.

The investigation started when customers complained to Walmart that they were billed for purchases they had no knowledge of, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Also arrested were: Noelvis Carbonell-Ordonez, 28, of Miami; Jose Valdez-Suarez, 26, no known address; Jose Rodriguez-Ferro, 28, Lazaro Fernandez-Iglesias, 29 and Ariel Salene-Torres, all of Hialeah.

All six are charged with racketeering, credit card fraud and grand theft.

Detectives continue to investigate how many consumers were victims of identity theft and how the credit card numbers were obtained. More than $200,000 may have been charged on the credit cards, detectives say.

The Tampa office of the U.S. Secret Service is also investigating.

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The holidays are right around the corner, people are struggling financially, some will do anything to get some cash, be aware of the people around you, make sure you get your card back from a transaction. This could happen in any county or state, this particular offense was in Tampa, be careful out there.

Cash. Way to go. Hey, they had that guy at the Chinese restaurant in Spring Hill who was swiping card numbers into his own little portable card strip reader/memory card on a key chain.

You never never know when you are getting screwed. Go to your bank withdraw some cash and go to the store.
Yeah, a little more troublesome than swipe and go, but when your checking account is cleaned out or in a month you get the bill for that $3,000.00 LED TV, you have a lot more troublesome moments to deal with.

Yep. Nothing like a good ole American greenback! May not be worth crap, but its better than getting stung.

The REAL Frank wrote:

Cash. Way to go. Hey, they had that guy at the Chinese restaurant in Spring Hill who was swiping card numbers into his own little portable card strip reader/memory card on a key chain.
You never never know when you are getting screwed. Go to your bank withdraw some cash and go to the store.
Yeah, a little more troublesome than swipe and go, but when your checking account is cleaned out or in a month you get the bill for that $3,000.00 LED TV, you have a lot more troublesome moments to deal with.