A 41-year-old resident of Tampa, Florida has been convicted for credit card fraud.
The state's Department of Justice has found Kevin Wain guilty of credit card fraud and sentenced him to four years in federal prison.
Investigation of the case revealed that Wain used fake credit cards which he prepared using a magnetic card writer/reader he bought from eBay in September 2011. Using the counterfeit cards, Wain was able to buy himself loads of expensive goods from Bed, Bath & Beyond and Williams Sonoma stores. Wain would then sell these goods to unsuspecting buyers on eBay.
Wain reportedly ran the so-called "buy and sell" business for three years — from September 2012 to June 2015, when he was finally caught by the Secret Service. During the said period, Wain was able to accumulatively buy 9 Dyson DC41 Animal vacuums, which earned him a profit of $3,456.99; 197 Roomba Robot vacuums earning him $91,141.25; and 755 Vitamix blenders for a profit of $399,713.08.
According to court records, Wain opened eBay and PayPal accounts under his name and address. Profit sales from the high-end products would also go directly to his bank accounts. A review of his PayPal's account history showed that from May 2010, the scheme brought him as much as $881,143 as payments for online transactions.
Wain pleaded guilty to said charges and was ordered by U.S. District Judge James Whittemore to pay back 48 financial companies every single penny of the $585,028.99 that he stole using the counterfeit credit cards.
According to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book for January to December 2013, the agency received [PDF] more than 2 million complaints, with 17 percent of complaints relating to credit card fraud. Similarly, the Bureau of Justice Statistics 2014 bulletin also revealed that about 86 percent of victims of identity theft complained that their credit card information was used.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has previously proposed allowing consumers to file class-action lawsuits against financial institutions like banks and credit card providers in case a consumer encounters issues with any of the financial products offered.
Photo: Lending Memo | Flickr
