and note the name, address, and
date of birth on the driver’s li-
cense, but never take any cash.
They replace the wallet exactly
as they found it to avoid arousing
any suspicion when the member
returns to the locker. Thieves
normally target several lockers at
the health club, and more than
one person usually shims at the
same time. Thieves generally
steal 15 to 20 credit cards either
from one health club or from
multiple health clubs before
moving to the next phase of the
scam.
Counterfeit Identification
Manufacture
The next phase involves the
thieves producing counterfeit
identification to match the name
on the credit card. In the early
vintage of this scheme, thieves
most commonly made counter-
feit, nonphoto New Jersey
driver’s licenses to use at Atlan-
tic City casinos. They employed
these nonphoto licenses as
backup identification (ID) that
they would show inside the casi-
nos to tellers who requested ID
before providing cash to the per-
son holding the credit card. More
recent trends involve making
counterfeit, color photo driver’s
licenses from different states.
Thieves modified their MO after
the casinos became aware of the
nonphoto New Jersey licenses
and began requiring photo ID as
backup identification. Also, the
thieves expanded their target
area to include health clubs lo-
cated in states without casinos.
This required the thieves to
manufacture counterfeit driver’s
licenses from many states.
The thieves always must
know in advance exactly which
person will serve as the “signer”
inside the casino. Obviously,
that same person’s photo must
appear on the counterfeit driver’s
license. Laptop computers, color
scanners, and color printers have
facilitated the production of such
counterfeit documents.2 The
thieves usually complete the
matching ID within a short time
and then plan their travel to the
casinos. If the casinos are
nearby, they generally travel by
car or van. If the casino is far
away, the thieves, using aliases,
fly on commercial aircraft. They
never use stolen credit cards to
purchase airline tickets when
they fly to a distant location to
steal or to pass credit cards.
The Casino Connection
Before using the cards at the
casinos, the thieves, now a group
of 10 to15 people, make sure that
the health club members have
not reported the theft of the
cards. To accomplish this, the
thieves typically stop at a gas sta-
tion/convenience store and buy a
few gallons of gas at a self-ser-
vice pump or make a small pur-
chase at a gift shop in or near the
casino.3 If a problem arises, the
thieves feign any knowledge and
purchase the gas or gift with cash
and then destroy the card. The
thieves check all stolen cards
prior to entering a casino.
The large group of thieves
now breaks into smaller teams
to begin passing the cards
inside the casinos. This reduces
the risk of detection by casino
gaming commission law en-
forcement authorities or by pri-
vate security personnel inside the
establishment.
Casinos use different mer-
chants to provide the cash-ad-
vance service. Essentially, a card
holder uses the machine by in-
serting or swiping the credit card
and then entering the desired
amount of money. The service
adds a small fee to that amount
and, as long as sufficient credit
remains on that credit card, gen-
erates a receipt. The card holder
takes the receipt to a nearby teller
window where the teller has re-
ceived a similar approval for the
transaction. The teller matches it
with the receipt handed by the
customer and asks to see the
credit card, as well as backup ID,
before giving the requested