A crime spree with roots in Wythe County is spreading up and down the East Coast. Dozens of victims of credit card theft have already come forward, and more are expected in coming weeks.
Credit card theft is nothing new for police, but the scale of this crime has the local authorities a bit surprised.
It only took one phone call from her bank and Samantha Huff marched down to the Wythe County Sheriff's office.
“When they told me the dollar amount, I was flipping out. $529.99! That's a lot of money to find out you've lost,” said Huff.
She's one of dozens of people who have reported fraudulent charges on her bank statement in the past week.
“We're talking, oh gosh, it wouldn't surprise me, between the local agencies, if we don't soon exceed 100 reports on this,” said Wythe County Sheriff Doug King.
Sheriff King says the fraudulent charges are being made up and down the east coast, from businesses as far south as Atlanta to as far north as New Jersey.
Authorities say a business that does contract work processing credit card transactions, is likely the culprit.
Since the crimes cross state lines, the Secret Service is now investigating.
“I'm hoping this is the end,” said Huff.
After filling out paperwork and filing reports, Samantha says she won't have to pay for the stolen money.
“They told me everything's going to be recovered,” said Huff with a sigh of relief.
But crimes like this often force the financial institutions to pass along its losses to all of its customers.
“The banks are ultimately going to be the victims, but in the long run, we're all victims of this,” said Sheriff King.
Both local and federal authorities are still collecting reports to get to the bottom of the fraud.
Investigators recommend checking your accounts and statements regularly and reporting all suspicious activity to your bank and police.
