Target Cashier in on $24K Gift Card Scam: Police

FULTON COUNTY, GA -- Law enforcement officials around Atlanta are suspecting a gift card fraud ring may be at work after the latest incident involving a cashier pretending to ring up items at a Target store, this time in Peachtree City.

A cashier is being investigated after loading more than 24 gift cards with $1,000, but not charging a patron for them, according to WSB-TV.

This tactic has been used in at least one other incident involving gift card theft at an area Target.

The whole process takes "about 10 or 15 minutes. It's quick," Peachtree City Detective Tim Pierson told WSB. They swipe a card, and don't accept payment. Swipe the next card, and don't accept payment. Over and over again.”

Patch reached out to Pierson for comment, but had not heard back before publication.

Atlanta police said social media posts led them to set up a fraud sting that captured two suspects last week at the Target store in Buckhead, according to local media reports.

Police said employees of the store on Sidney Marcus Boulevard were contacted online by suspects who asked them to commit fraud. An internal investigation by the store led them to seek the assistance of Atlanta Police Department's Major Fraud Unit, who set up the sting operation.

The plot went like this: A "customer" would seek to put $1,000 on a Target gift card. At the cash register, the cards would not be rang up. The suspects offered to pay the cashiers in advance, police told local media.

“Once an agreement has been struck and the time and location set, suspects enter the store and ‘purchase’ the gift cards at the register but tender no payment,” Sajdak told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Atlanta police said that's exactly what happened Thursday morning when security cameras caught Adrian Clark selecting 14 gift cards and loading each for $1,000. He did not pay for them.

“After he completed his transaction, we arrested him and his girlfriend. She had fraud warrants out of Suwanee, Georgia and she was in possession of cell phone used to set up deals,” Atlanta police Sgt. Paul Cooper told WAGA-TV.

“We have two people in custody and about three seen on surveillance video from previous transactions, so we could discover this is happening other stores as we continue to investigate,” Cooper was quoted as saying.

He was seized by officers outside the store. Police also arrested his girlfriend, Arielle Charles, who was waiting for him in a car outside.

Clark is charged with theft by taking, according to the Fulton County jail. Charles was charged with giving a false name to a law enforcement officer and theft by taking.

Atlanta police see the Buckhead incident as part of a bigger criminal enterprise going on in metro Atlanta.

“We think we may have $100,000 to $200,000 worth of Target cards that have been purchased this way within the city limits,” Cooper told WAGA.

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