KYTX reports:
Cops take down a major identity theft operation with ties to Tyler. It’s one of several cases affecting East Texans right now.
An employee at a Tyler Chicken Express is accused of bringing a special card-reader to work. Police say she took customers’ debit cards at the drive-thru window, swiped them once at the cash register, and a second time on her own machine. So, hundreds of people paid for some chicken and a whole lot more.
[…]
Investigators found the common thread, which lead them to 24 year old Elizabeth Pickrell of Chandler. They say she was giving the stolen numbers to Christopher Michael and Corey Davis of Malakoff. From there they were making hundreds of fake bank and gift cards, stealing more than $1,000,000 in Tyler alone.
Read more on KYTX.
Rich Flowers of Athen Daily Review also covers the case, while KETK has the press release from the Tyler Police Department. That release indicates that “Approximately 500 accounts were compromised in Tyler alone by Pickrell,” so the total number of victims will be higher than 500.