Cape Coral, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida man has been arrested after police said he was caught putting some compromised counterfeit gift cards on the store’s gift card display.
Police were called to Cape Coral Store south of South Prado Boulevard on Wednesday after defeat prevention officers reported someone had placed a fake gift card on a rack.
Officials said they found the suspect identified as Sebastian Garcia Gallego in the parking lot.
A loss prevention officer told investigators that after seeing Garcia Gallego enter the store, he was prominently placing compromised gift cards across the gift card rack.
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“This is a common scam where suspects steal a gift card account number significantly, pin information, and then return it to the rack,” the Cape Coral Police Department said on Facebook. “When a gift card is legally purchased, the suspect will remotely drain funds from the card, resulting in zero balances for unsuspecting customers.”
Investigators believe Garcia Galego placed more than 50 gift cards on the store rack, with prices ranging from $20 to $500. The store manager removed all gift cards from the display.
Police say Garcia Gallego visited other companies in Cape Coral to commit the same crime.
Detectives said they found a large bag in Garcia Gallego’s car with over 200 compromised gift cards.
“Gallego Garcia confessed that he would be paid to drive to a new city each week to distribute hundreds of compromised gift cards, and also allowed hundreds of gift cards to be distributed at additional locations in Cape Coral,” police said.
Garcia Gallego was detained on claims of theft, fraud and property damage.
The officer said that customers must purchase gift cards and, if they are in a similar situation, they must hold receipts to have proof of purchase.
