Sheriff warns residents of credit card theft, possible job offer "scam" | Crime

GRAVES COUNTY, KY (KFVS) - Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon is warning residents in the area of another possible "scam" involving credit card theft.

Redmon says his office received information from the sheriff in Pendleton County that he had a victim of fraudulent credit card use. The Pendleton County sheriff said merchandise bought with the credit card had been shipped to someone in Graves County.

Redmon said deputies responded to a house in Water Valley after hearing from the Pendleton County sheriff and spoke to people that received the packages. He said deputies seized about $3,000 of merchandise that had been illegally bought with stolen credit cards.

During the interview with the resident, he told deputies that he responded to one of the "work from home" job offers that claimed a person could earn up to $1,500 a week. He says the person told him they needed a freight forwarder to establish a location in the United States to help them. The man told him that he would receive packages from several businesses from all over the U.S. and his contact would e-mail him a shipping label to forward to another person. The resident told deputies that on several occasions he shipped to an individual in Russia.

According to Redmon, the man told deputies the merchandise he received varied from diamond earrings, iPhones, expensive cameras and leather goods.

Redmon said that Deputy Steve Halsell has been in contact with the Secret Service and the investigation has shifted to a point outside of the U.S. The victims of the credit card theft had been notified and the fraud department of the respective credit card companies. Halsell said he had been in contact with victims in Oregon, Iowa, New York and Kentucky.

Redmon urges people to be extremely careful when associating with individuals that could be involving you in criminal activity. Redmon said that in this case, because of the cooperation of the person in Graves County, no charges have been filed at this time. He said the investigation is ongoing and charges should be forthcoming.

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