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Been to a nude cabaret or exotic nightclub in the San Jose area of Costa Rica? Chances are your credit card information has been compromised.
Local bookmakers and staff of online sportsbook businesses, for which there are several dozen based in the region, report being swindled as part of a credit card skimming scheme orchestrated at a handful of these establishments.
A US expat identified only by the surname of “James” was among those arrested this week by the Office of Judicial Investigations for taking part in the scam. He is being prosecuted as the alleged mastermind in charge of the skimming crew.
According to Diario, one of the suspects is reportedly the son of a businessman who owns two busy nightclubs in San Jose while another owns a private security company that provided services to at least one of the aforementioned night clubs.
The Costa Rica Star previously detailed how the credit card skimming scheme occurs:
The devices do their work after a criminal inserts the thin plastic device into an ATM card reader [or merchant terminal]. The device than reads and stores every ATM users’ card information the moment they insert the card into the machine. The criminal returns later in the day and retrieves the device, which may by then have the full data of hundreds of cards stored on it. That information is later used to create clones of the users’ cards, or for online purchases.
The skimmers are also sometimes placed in the credit card terminals at retail establishments, restaurants, and other places that accept credit cards.
One online gambling industry employee reported to Gambling911.com that his credit card had been compromised at the exotic nightclub Elite’s with an attempted fraudulent charge of close to $5000.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gmbling911.com
