ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HAMPTON
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
POSING AS America Online officials, three teen-agers got users' credit card numbers and stole more than $14,000 in equipment.
Fifteen minutes after Carmen Nepa logged onto America Online for the first time, a message flashed on his notebook computer screen - ``We are having difficulty verifying your credit card information.''
The message asked Nepa, a Philadelphia accountant, for his MasterCard number, address, telephone number and Social Security number, which he provided.
Two days later, Nepa discovered a $500 charge on his account from a computer wholesaler in New Jersey. He immediately disputed the charge, then called the mail order company. ``The people at Micro Warehouse told me the order had been shipped to Hampton, Virginia,'' Nepa said.
The next day, Nepa was telling his story to a Hampton detective.
After a seven-month investigation, detectives this week arrested three 16-year-olds who used the on-line service to illegally obtain more than $14,000 worth of computers, computer equipment and software.
The charges against the three, all felonies, include conspiracy to commit credit card fraud; credit card theft; credit card forgery; obtaining goods or services through credit card fraud; using a computer with the intent to commit fraud; and illegally possessing devices with which to commit credit card forgery.
``The three juveniles obtained credit card information by downloading some programs from the Internet, and through various schemes they then placed orders to various computer mail-order companies using these credit card numbers,'' Sgt. Chuck Jordan, police spokesman, said Friday in announcing the arrests.
He said the suspects had the orders shipped to ``specified locations for pickup by the offenders.''
In one case, the suspects used a neighbor's house as the shipping address for orders from America Online and United CD-ROM, according to a court affidavit.
On Sept. 30, 1995, a detective spoke with a resident who said she received a telephone call from someone who identified himself as an employee of United CD-ROM. ``The caller stated that the items had been shipped to her residence by mistake and asked if she would place the packages outside her door to be picked up at 5 the next morning,'' the court document says.
The resident ignored the request. However, when she returned home that day, one of the packages was missing.
Police traced the telephone number on the order to a house across the street, where a Bethel High School student lives.
When police interviewed the teen-ager on Oct. 6, 1995, he admitted participating in the scheme and implicated a friend. ``He stated that there are two computers at the ... residence, both of which were used to place orders and charge long-distance telephone calls,'' the affidavit says.
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