Retail, credit card fraud abounds in Ann Arbor area in days leading up to Christmas
Retailers and consumers are seeing spikes in theft and credit card crimes at the height of the holiday shopping season, Ann Arbor area police officials said.
And along those lines, police have detailed a number of shoplifting and fraud arrests in the days leading up to Christmas.
Ann Arbor area loss prevention officers are on the lookout for thieves this holiday season.
Pittsfield Township police arrested a 27-year-old Belleville man at Meijer, 3825 Carpenter Road, just before midnight Wednesday after he tried to switch tags on a vacuum cleaner, according to reports.
"He cut out at UPC code from a cheap, hand-held vacuum and tried to pass that UPC off for a Dyson," said Pittsfield Township Police Lt. Bill Grefka.
Store employees alerted police after the man used the wrong UPC code in the self check-out lane. Charges for retail fraud are pending, police said.
Ann Arbor police arrested a 15-year-old runaway from Detroit Tuesday afternoon at Von Maur, 300 Briarwood Circle. Employees caught the boy trying to steal a pair of $282 jeans and two Polo shirts worth $210. After his arrest, he was turned over to his mother while police investigate the incident, according to the police report.
A 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl from Ypsilanti Township were arrested after leaving JC Penney, 500 Briarwood Circle, with merchandise worth $44, police said. The 17-year old girl became verbally abusive and resisted efforts to handcuff her, according to police. The girls were released on bond while Ann Arbor police investigate, police said.
In addition, a purse was stolen from a shopping cart at Meijer, 5645 Jackson Road in Scio Township, according to reports.
Washtenaw County residents also reported a number of credit card crimes in recent days.
A man reported credit card fraud to Ann Arbor police Wednesday after $700 of charges appeared from various gas stations in Canada.
An employee of Ten Thousand Villages, 303 S. Main St., reported $200 cash and credit cards were stolen from her purse Tuesday during her shift, according to reports.
At 20/20 Cafe, in the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center at 1000 Wall Street, a former employee used his own credit card and a fake authorization code to take $628.59 in cash between Dec. 3 and 15, according to reports.
The machine kicked back the transaction to the card, but the 27-year-old Pittsfield Township resident kept the cash, police said. Fraud charges are pending while police investigate.
Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter
Comments
trs80
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 1:16 p.m.
@linuxtuxguy - Guess you need to get out from behind the keyboard. $105 is cheap for two Polo shirts.
John Galt
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 1:11 p.m.
Fools would pay $282 for a pair of Jeans. The days of rampant consumption are over. Thievery and social collapse are going to be the new norm.
adameichner
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 12:58 p.m.
linuxtuxguy -- my reaction exactly. I mean, shoot, back in the day I remember Girbaud jeans could run you like sxty bucks, but nearly $300? Dang. To paraphrase what John Travolta asked Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction "you get a shot of bourbon with those jeans?"
cibachrome
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 12:55 p.m.
Don't let your credit cards get ought of your sight. Cashiers may like to take them for a ride while they are running off to do other things. This includes gas stations. That's where mine got double copied. Once they had the card number, it was easy to score a credit charge because Master Card asked a validation question that is commonly found on the Net.
Ryan Munson
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 12:51 p.m.
Very good to be aware of this. Also, be aware of your home you might have left empty as there is an increase in breaking and entering activity during the holidays.
linuxtuxguy
Thu, Dec 24, 2009 : 11:37 a.m.
$282 for a pair of jeans and $105 for a polo shirt???