The South Beach restaurant whose customers had their data skimmed was not named in this press release. There’s also no explanation of where the defendants obtained Social Security numbers and other personal information:
United States v. Christopher M. Mack, Case No. 15-2317-MJ-O’Sullivan
On March 16, 2015, Christopher M. Mack, 30, of Miami, was charged by criminal complaint for operating a scheme to skim credit card numbers, manufacture counterfeit credit cards, and file false federal income tax returns.
According to the criminal complaint, the defendant engaged in a scheme to skim credit card numbers from the customers of a South Beach restaurant. Pursuant to the investigation and the execution of a search warrant at Mack’s residence, officers discovered a magnetic stripe encoder, a credit card skimmer, over 100 counterfeit credit cards embossed with Mack’s name, three spiral notebooks filled with the personal identifying information of over 500 individuals, and loose sheets of paper filled with over 1,000 social security numbers.
Pursuant to the complaint, a Miami Dade Police Department (“MDPD”) detective selected for further inspection fifty entries from the hundreds listed in the spiral notebooks. The detective discovered that the fifty entries represented a total of $232,344.00 in filed returns. Further investigation revealed that individuals listed in the entries had false tax return filings associated with the discovered PII. Of those false filings, four resulted in paid disbursements.
The complaint charges the defendant with possessing fifteen or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices.