Video Forensics Catches Alleged Crook
Unhappy Meal Served at McDonalds in Employee Card Skimming
Lucky Customer Break Helps Too
Security video played a key role in catching an employee who used a skimming device to steal customer credit card information, according to a report by SunSentenial.com.
Not after they rolled through the drive-through on West Yamato Road and handed their credit cards to Percival James, whom Boca Raton police say promptly stole their credit card information and sold it on the streets for cash. James of Delray Beach is charged with using a scamming device to defraud McDonalds customers, according to a Boca Raton police report.
It began with a phone call on Jan. 21. A man had visited the restaurant twice in early January. It was the only place where the man had used his new credit card. But then the bank called and said someone had used the card at a Target store in Orlando. A few days after the first victim called police, another woman called; then another. It was the same story: they had visited the McDonalds and someone stole their credit card information.
A manager then looked at the restaurant surveillance footage.
In the video he could see Percival James working Window 1, where customers pay before getting their food. It looked as though James was writing something down very quickly on a piece of paper, the report says, right after making the transaction.
The manager then viewed videos from other shifts when James worked Window 1. When we had the manager play the footage back in slow motion, the report says, it was clear to see James was quickly swiping the card through a little black device that he was keeping on the side of the cash register.
Detectives then met with James, who admitted what he had been doing at Window 1, police said. He had been using the skimming device to store customer credit card information. James said he then sold the data for $500 a pop. According to police, James told detectives he scammed 30-70 customers a day, keeping a tally on a piece of paper.
