Two men are facing charges after they were caught using fake credit cards across Northeast Ohio, according to Canal Fulton police.
Authorities originally responded to Circle K for a man slumped over the wheel. When they arrived, police say they thought it would just be an OVI call. A search of the vehicle proved otherwise.
What was in Jovon Fleetwood's backseat proved to be more. Patrol officers found marijuana and eight fake credit cards.
Officer John Barabasch told News 5 they traced the cards and found they were used in hundreds of dollars of individual purchases all over the area.
"When we contacted Circle K, we gave them all the account numbers. And they have the software they can run a number through all the stores it's ever been used at in several states. And these cards came back to so many stores," Barabasch said.
The man who was with Fleetwood, Howard Hills, ran off, but police found him in another city using more fake cards.
"New ones were created somehow within a week and they were out making more charges," Barabasch said.
According to police, skimmers come in many shapes and sizes and go on anything from ATMs to gas pumps.
Related: 12 people indicted in credit card skimmer scheme that involved several Northeast Ohio gas pumps.
So what do you do to protect yourself?
"Monitor your credit! Your credit scores," Barabasch advised.
A Federal Trade Commission spokesperson provided the following statement regarding skimmers:
"People should be aware of skimmers that can be placed on gas pumps or used by disreputable service people you hand your credit card too. These skimmers are small and can capture all your card information to be used by the scammers later. There’s nothing you can do to protect yourself 100% from these thefts, but you can be careful who you hand your card to and look at gas pumps to see if it looks like they’ve been tampered with."
Information on what to do if your credit card is lost or stolen.
