Fraud victims may total 450

On Oct. 28, Brenda Chandler of Costa Mesa was down the street visiting with her sister when the bank called telling her that someone in Las Vegas had withdrawn $500 from her account that day.

“My husband called me and sort of joking asked if I was in Las Vegas,” Chandler said. Her husband had just gotten off the phone with their bank, which notified him that her debit card information had been used that weekend to withdraw $1,500 from ATMs in casinos.

When she received her bank statement, Chandler discovered that the thieves had withdrawn $500 at a time, at the New York, New York, and Sahara casinos, and at a 7-Eleven along South Boulder Highway. A fourth attempted transaction was denied after Union Bank contacted the Chandlers.

Chandler found out she was not the only victim when she was filing a report at the Costa Mesa police station and the woman in front of her reported the same crime.

Apparently that woman’s credit information was used to withdraw large sums of cash in Las Vegas the same weekend, Chandler said.

Costa Mesa police have identified nearly 450 potential victims, whose debit card numbers were taken between Oct. 6 and 9, many of which were used for large withdrawals in Las Vegas between Oct. 26 and 30, police said.

The dates of the thefts and withdrawals matched more than 10 reports made to the Westminster Police Department. One hundred fifteen card numbers were compromised there. In that city they all had one common denominator — an Arco gas station on Westminster Avenue, police said.

Costa Mesa police have not identified a location of the debit card information theft, but Chandler thinks her number was taken while paying for gas at an outside pump.

“I felt so invaded; it nauseated me for two days,” Chandler said. “I barely use my card.”

The thieves withdrew more than $50,000 from the bank accounts of people whose numbers were compromised in both cities during the five days before Halloween in Las Vegas.

“The banks are calling and notifying us of the bulk cases as groups,” Costa Mesa Police Det. Bob Phillips said. Bank of America, one of the nine banks with numbers stolen in the Costa Mesa cases, automatically reimburses customers for any fraudulent charges reported within 60 days of the date on the statement.

As long as people keep close account of their spending and report any unauthorized purchases as soon as possible, they should not be worried, Bank of America spokesman Michael Chee said. This information and more concerning credit protection can be found on the bank’s website, a tool Chee recommends customers use.

Newport Beach police have received two reports of similar credit thefts in which funds were illegally withdrawn from bank accounts over the Halloween weekend in Las Vegas.

How the numbers were stolen has not yet been determined, Sgt. Bill Hartford said. Newport police are handing the cases over to Las Vegas Metro Police since the money was withdrawn there, Hartford said.

Unaware of a connection to the Orange County thefts, Las Vegas police said illegal card numbers from all over the country pass through the city on any given weekend.