ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando man locked up in prison still managed to steal dozens of credit card numbers on the outside, and state agents told WFTV he used his grandmother and other family to cover up the cash. But credit cards are still at risk, because there's a key suspect who's on the run.
Investigators at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) say they are working to track her down right now. They say she is the one with a skimming device and helping prisoners turn stolen credit card numbers into cash from inside state prison...
Reginald Dugger is accused in an elaborate scheme to rip off credit card users on the outside.
"This particular scam is an increasing trend," FDLE Special Agent Supervisor Jack Massey told WFTV.
It started with the swipe of a card. A friend known to FDLE investigators only as "Peaches" used a skimmer to steal credit card numbers. Investigators say Dugger's girlfriend, Tanara Alexander, who was also on the outside, paid Peaches to use the online inmate account system to transfer money from the stolen cards to inmates' trust accounts.
Using a credit card and the online service, you can only add $300 to an inmate's account every 10 days, but there is no limit on how much an inmate can pile up in their account. In this case, with their accounts loaded with cash, the inmates would send payments from their inmate accounts to the Orlando homes of Dugger's mother, his grandmother, and Alexander's sister, investigators told WFTV.
Alexander and Dugger are out on bond, but no one answered at their home Friday.
"Go down there and talk to her. There they go pullin' in. Go catch them," Alexander's aunt informed WFTV's news crew minutes later.
But when the aunt, who lives down the street, pointed them out, they took off in their car, apparently not wanting to talk about how investigators say they used the state prison system to launder money.
"Hopefully people will get the message we're watching," Massey said.
The Department of Corrections noticed suspicious account activity and investigators figured the scam out after they listened to prison phone calls between the suspects. The family members who received the money have not been charged, because investigators can't prove they knew the money was stolen.
WFTV
