CENTRAL FLORIDA,None — A holiday shopping spree has landed two people in jail. Two men are accused of fraudulently buying gift cards from local Home Depot stores, investigators said.
Officers said Osvel Maura and Pedro Ortega used fake credit cards to buy real gift cards.
An East Colonial Drive location is at least the third Home Depot that the suspects hit, and it's where the law caught up with them.
When Maura and Ortega walked in, store security officers, who were watching the store's surveillance cameras, recognized them right away, WFTV learned.
"They've been around the area. They've worked the area pretty good," said Orange County Detective A.J. Jones.
Deputies said they had already hit two Home Depots in Lake County and Ocala.
Detectives sent out bulletins, warning stores across Central Florida that they could be next.
"It's getting pretty prevalent," Jones said.
After store security watched the men buy gift cards, they confronted them outside the store, officers said.
Both suspects tried to escape. At one point, Maura was tackled to the ground after he flailed his arms and tried to hit a security guard, investigators said.
Investigators said they searched Maura and Ortega, as well as their car, and found numerous fake credit cards and real gift cards.
U.S. Secret Service Agent Jim Glendinning said crooks get credit card numbers by skimming card readers at places such as gas pumps.
"This is a crime that takes some planning and some will power to conduct," Glendinning said.
The crooks get everything they need to turn them into cash online.
"Your laptop computers, whatever. Your embossing machine, tipping machine, the encoder decoder," Glendinning said.
Maura and Ortega are from Miami and detectives said they are trying to figure out if they are part of a larger crime ring.
"Could very well be that is something that we are seeing right now," Jones said.
Both men are being charged with trafficking in counterfeit credit cards and trying to escape after they were caught.