A Bad Taste

Some New York City waiters have been serving up more than your food.

According to police a highly organized identity theft ring recruited waiters to provide them with customer’s credit card information. The waiters all worked at expensive restaurants and were provided with skimming devices. These would copy a person’s credit card information while running the tab.

Police say it appears at least fifty restaurant patrons were affected by the wait staff scheme. The stolen information was then made into fake credit cards used to buy items such as watches and purses. The group would keep some of the products; all bought at high end department stores, and sell off the rest.

Police say a raid on a Manhattan storage locker turned up more than one million dollars in cash, watches and wine. The actual credit card holders did not end up being responsible for any of the lavish items bought. So far 28 people have been indicted on racketeering and other charges. They are also accused of planting skimming devices and video cameras at some ATM’s. Who knew a five star New York restaurant could leave such a bad taste in your mouth.