]

There have been reports over the past year or so from other areas about people covering the Exxon satellites with tinfoil. When they do this it causes credit cards to be stored instead of sent through to be processed. This is normal and temporary if the outage is weather related; however, in this case they can use stolen and bad credit cards to make purchases while the system is out of service.

Several WV businesses have been victims of this scam which is explained in detail in the news article from Dearborn Heights, MI. below. The photos above are explained as follows:
1.jpg - Shows the guy buying a carton of cigarettes, teenage girl can also been seen at the door. 2.jpg - Shows the teenage girl and another man from the van. 3.jpg - Shows the drive (white tank top) as well as the teenager and man. Frisk.jpg Shows what appears to be a P.D. officer frisking the men who were later released. This shot also shows the van. The Ohio(?) plate on the front is not readable.

Wife.jpg Shows the adult woman who was riding passenger, but drives the van from the lot after the police leave. At the business where the above photos were captured on the surveillance system it indicates the perps arrived around 6:27PM and were there until 6:55PM. They bought $60 in gas, $100+ in cigarettes and purchased various other items. The names on the credit cards are Exxxxxxxxxx/25/GC minus the last which is You, A Gift For, They appear to be pre-paid credit cards.
This article is from Dearborn Heights, MI: RIVERVIEW Police investigated an attempt to defraud a local gas station last Sunday when a man went up on its roof to cover the data transmission satellite dish with aluminum foil in an attempt to block gift, credit and debit card financial transactions. The BP gas station, 20990 Fort St., reported a suspicious situation at about 5 p.m. Sunday when an anonymous witness reported an unknown man on the roof of the station covering the satellite dish in foil. The man was described as black, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with a short Afro and wearing a gray polo shirt and gray pants. According to a special bulletin issued by the Michigan Intelligence Operations Center, covering the financial transaction satellite dish still allows a gift card to activate the pump, but since the data is not uploaded to the satellite via the dish, the gift card remains active and can be used again. Officials say a common criminal tactic is to offer an illegal gas purchase transaction opportunity at a discounted rate utilizing a gift card and a foil-encased, transaction blocked satellite dish. Last Sunday the station was able to suspend credit card transactions and restore satellite dish financial transactions before a loss could be incurred through fraudulent transactions. In the summer of 2008, the same station saw a suspicious run of gift card transactions, but the foil subsequently removed from the satellite dish had not blocked any credit card transactions. Two Melvindale BP stations experienced fraud attempts involving foil on their satellite dishes. One, at 4310 Oakwood, discovered a problem Feb. 8, 2008, with credit card transmission from the gas pumps. Foil removed from its rooftop satellite dish was checked by police for possible fingerprints. An employee at the station at 2625 Schaefer noticed its credit card reader showed it was not getting a signal on Sept. 28, 2007. The employee suspected fraudulent activity when five or six cars appeared and began pumping super unleaded gas. One card being used at the pump also was transmitting a fraudulent code warning flag.

If you have information regarding similar crimes or if you can identify the subjects involved in this scam please contact:

BD Gore
Director of Security PO Box 70014 Charleston, WV 25301 Office: 304-345-8786 Cell: 304-546-2458 Email: BDGore@suddenlink.net