Caitlin Morris reports:
Twenty-year-old Saihing Chan incurred four felony charges Wednesday in Saratoga County for his alleged role in stealing identities from nearly 80 patrons who ate at a now-closed Glenmont restaurant.
At the time of his arrest, he was an inmate at Albany County Jail on an additional 19 identity theft-related felonies he is facing.
The Golden Town Buffet Hibachi & Sushi opened its doors in Glenmont in June 2013 and closed less than two months later, when the Secret Service executed a search warrant Aug. 5 after an investigation revealed credit cards were being duplicated from the eatery. The charges from Saratoga County stem from Chan using debit card numbers to make purchases in the area, police said.
Read more on The Saratogian.
I’ve been covering the Golden Town Buffet breach since 2013 (previous coverage linked from here), but today’s coverage left me wondering whether the business was so affected by the breach that it shuttered its doors less than two months after opening – or was the whole thing a criminal operation from the get go? Caitlin Morris reports on The Saratogian:
The case is larger than one Glenmont buffet and even the Capital Region. According to Hornick, restaurants operating similar schemes were busted in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania — all run by Chinese nationals.
But The Times Union reports that the owners have been cooperating with law enforcement, suggesting that they might not have been involved at all.
So…. is this one of those cases where a business folded because of a breach? Perhaps it is.
Lots of restaurants fold, so its hard to say. 2 months is quick. http://www.restaurantowner.com/public/302.cfm
Yes, 2 mos. is quick, but the timing – just when law enforcement executes warrant and seizes records, etc., maybe a clue as to why it closed. I found it interesting that they noted a rash of these cases in multiple states, all involving Chinese nationals.