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April 3, 2009

Secret Service may get involved in scams targeting Walmart

Charles Oliver

Fort Oglethorpe police arrested two men earlier this week whom they say ran a series of credit card scams at Walmarts along I-75, including here in Dalton.

They arrested Abdoulaye Barry and Mamadou Diallo and have charged them with 18 counts each of financial card fraud.

“They were using stolen credit cards to purchase gift cards in the front of the store, then they were taking the gift cards to the back of the store to purchase electronics,” said Fort Oglethorpe Police Detective Sgt. Greg Wingo.

Wingo said video shows the men using two or three different credit cards or numbers before getting authorization.

“A lot of them are getting declined, but as soon as they get one that is approved, they’ll start loading up the gift cards,” he said.

Wingo said Walmart loss prevention staff had already done much of the legwork on the case.

“There were four of them, but we only caught two,” Wingo said.

He said the other two acted as lookouts.

Wingo said the Dalton Police Department placed a hold on the men and they have been transferred to the Whitfield County jail. Barry, 28, of 520 Tinton Ave., Bronx, N.Y., and Diallo, 24, of 6526 Grey Fox Way, Riverdale, Ga., have been charged in Whitfield County with first degree forgery, forgery of a financial transaction card, financial transaction card fraud and identity theft.

“We know they were in College Park, Marietta, Cartersville, Dalton and Fort Oglethorpe. We know they’ve been doing it for the month of March,” Wingo said.

Wingo said both men are originally from Africa.

“We’ve talked to ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). These guys both have criminal histories, but nobody in immigration is looking for them. But everybody is looking at them now,” he said. “The Secret Service told me (Friday) that once they get all of Walmart’s paperwork, where Walmart has been tracking through their stores, that if it is as big as we think it is, they are going to take over the case.”

A phone call to Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier was not immediately returned.

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