Credit Card Thieves Target Carrollton Parking Lots
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CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) - The Carrolton Police Department is working to stop a a high-end shopping spree.
Thieves are sitting in a gym's parking lot, waiting for people to hide their things and when people go inside, they pounce.
Photos posted by Carrollton Police show two men wheeling out flat screen TV-s from Walmart paid for with someone else's money.
"In this case, the bad guys were using the stolen credit cards within 30 minutes of the theft, before the victims were even off the treadmill," said Carrollton Police Department Media Specialist, Jolene DeVito.
Police said in less than a month, the same pair targeted a Carrollton LA Fitness twice, using stolen credit cards to fund a high-end shopping spree.
Avery de Sostoa was one of their victims.
"The whole window was shattered. They popped the screwdriver out here and leveraged it," de Sostoa said as she explained the damage.
Her car window now fixed, de Sostoa's sense of safety is harder to replace.
"You get comfortable with your places and you think nothing is going to happen and, especially this time of the year, people are desperate and they'll go to any measure to get your stuff," said de Sostoa. "I had about three credit cards in my car. I got two of them cut off before they used anything. The last one the burglars racked up almost $3,000's worth of stuff."
Police said they believe the pair are behind a similar crime in Plano, where they also bought gift cards from Walgreens.
While police work to find leads, they're reminding people to take valuables inside – put them in a gym locker, or better yet, use their own locks.
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