Credit Card Fraud A

The use of an apparently unauthorized credit card to pay for two rooms at an Anaheim hotel this week led to the arrest of several people on suspicion of fraud and drug possession, police said Wednesday. "It's a pretty significant bust," Werner Raes, a detective with the Anaheim Police Department, said of the arrests at the Sheraton Hotel on Ball Road.

The use of an apparently unauthorized credit card to pay for two rooms at an Anaheim hotel this week led to the arrest of several people on suspicion of fraud and drug possession, police said Wednesday. "It's a pretty significant bust," Werner Raes, a detective with the Anaheim Police Department, said of the arrests at the Sheraton Hotel on Ball Road.

A 26-year-old man, charged with defrauding seven Ventura County banks out of more than $17,000 in a credit-card scam, gave up his right to a preliminary hearing on Friday and will stand trial on the charges. David Jeffrey Wilkinson of West Hollywood faces up to six years in state prison on charges of commercial burglary, grand theft and credit-card fraud. A Superior Court arraignment for Wilkinson was scheduled for Feb. 14.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Gold mine scam alleged ? The presidents of two companies have been indicted, accused of fleecing investors of millions of dollars through two schemes, including one in which they allegedly made false promises of potential profits through an Alaskan gold mine, the FBI said in a news release. William C. Lange, president of Harbor Funding Group Inc., and Joseph Pascua, president of Black Sand Mine Inc., were also accused of pocketing more than $9 million they charged real estate developers in advance fees for real estate loans that were never funded, the FBI said.

A Palm Springs man arrested this week in connection with a suspected credit-card fraud had a mini fraud factory in his car, authorities alleged. Joseph B. Riley, 61, was arrested in Thousand Oaks on Tuesday on suspicion of using stolen credit card accounts and counterfeit checks to make purchases from mail-order companies throughout the United States, according to the county Sheriff's Department.

Secret Service and other authorities raiding the house of a woman suspected of credit card fraud shot and wounded her boyfriend in a gunfight Friday, authorities said. Tony Ray Louden was shot after he pointed a gun at Long Beach police and agents from the Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who were serving search warrants on a house in the 700 block of Atlantic Avenue at 7:25 a.m., Special Agent Clint Howard said. Louden was taken to St.

A Santa Monica lawyer who represented accused swindler Kenneth H. Taves early in his case may have assisted Taves in the operation of his Cayman Islands accounts in violation of a court order, according to a report in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

PetCo Animal Supplies Inc. falsely assured its online customers that their credit card numbers were secure when they were actually vulnerable to common computer hacking attacks, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday. The San Diego-based company, the nation's second- largest pet supply chain, with more than 670 stores, told users of its Petco.com website that their data were encrypted and secure.

An Orange County lawyer has been accused of ignoring discrepancies in his clients' bankruptcy claims--discrepancies that enabled them to engage in a widespread credit-card scheme centered in Westminster's Vietnamese community. Timothy J. McCandless, a previously disciplined Costa Mesa lawyer, is awaiting word on whether he will be sanctioned by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge. Sanctions can range from a reprimand to a stiff fine or a ban from practicing before the court.

Federal agents Tuesday arrested Kenneth H. Taves, the alleged mastermind of a $45.5-million credit card swindle, saying he had concealed millions in a Cayman Islands bank account in violation of a court order. Taves, 47, of Malibu, was taken into federal custody at the end of a court hearing where a judge found him in civil contempt in a Federal Trade Commission case alleging the credit card fraud. A separate criminal complaint filed Tuesday by the U.S.

It started as an investigation into an Armenian crime ring suspected of running credit card scams out of a Glendale pickle factory. But thanks to a stroke of luck -- the help of an informant -- authorities believe they stumbled upon a lethal page in the group's business plan: hiring hit men to eliminate seven members of a rival criminal organization.