The woman from North Carolina turned herself in on Tuesday because she used Lowe’s credit cards to steal more than $11,700 last year.
An affidavit of probable cause from Lake County says that 36-year-old Erica Latrice Daniels was involved in a fraud scheme involving stolen Lowe’s customers’ credit card account information. The scheme caused a loss of $11,755.45 over a period of time in both Lake and Orange Counties.
Synchrony Bank, or SYB, gives retail clients, like Lowe’s, private name credit cards. The SYB Special Investigation Team started looking into a way for Lowe’s private label credit card accounts to be used to steal millions of dollars in April 2023.
People took part in the plan by buying Lowe’s customers’ account information on the dark web. This information included personally identifiable information (PII), phone numbers, account usernames and passwords, and more.
After that, the people would use the Lowe’s app to get into the victims’ accounts and get stickers with the account numbers for the victims’ Lowe’s accounts. The people would then go into a Lowe’s store and use the barcodes on their phones to buy gift cards. Along with the gift cards, small dollar things would be bought, the affidavit said.
During the investigation, a person was found using a barcode from a Lowe’s account to commit theft at a Gainesville Lowe’s. The account showed a phone number called SYB that could be used to get into it, but it wasn’t the cardholder’s phone number.
The phone number was found in the SYB database, and it was used to get into 29 Lowe’s accounts without permission. The document said that all 29 accounts had fraudulent activity in Florida.
CCTV (surveillance video) of the bogus transactions was given by Lowe’s Loss Prevention. A man named Daniels and another man went into Lowe’s at 18795 U.S. Hwy. 441 in Mount Dora on April 16, 2023. The statement said they went up to the self-checkout terminal at 2:32 p.m.
Daniels had a bunch of gift cards in his hands, while the man had laundry detergent in his hands. She tried to buy the gift cards but couldn’t because she didn’t have a picture ID. The man looked at the laundry soap. Daniels used her phone to scan the barcode, which was tied to the victim’s Lowe’s account. The statement said the deal was worth $20.51.
Both Daniels and the man went to a different Lowe’s on the same day. This one was at 9540 U.S. Hwy 641, Leesburg. They walked up to the self-checkout station at 2:57 p.m. This time, she used her phone to scan the barcodes on two $500 gift cards to buy them and the barcode linked to the victim’s account to finish a $1,011.90 fraud, according to the affidavit.
After an hour, Daniels and the man went back to the same store and used the self-checkout machine again. He had a pack of light bulbs with him, and she had a bunch of gift cards. Daniels looked at the five $500 gift cards and light bulbs. The affidavit said that at 3:54 p.m., she used her phone to scan the barcode that was tied to the victim’s account for the $2,564.27 fraud.
Daniels and the man went to one more Lowe’s that day. It was at 1657 W. Orange Blossom Trail in Apopka. The woman had gift cards in her hand and a pack of toilet paper in his. They went to a self-checkout station. The items, four $500 gift cards, and the barcode on her phone were scanned for a $2,043.29 fraud, the statement said.
At 8700 Colonial Drive in Orlando on April 17, the suspects went into Lowe’s and went to a self-checkout station. The man had Armour A11 and Rain-X bottles in his hands, while Daniels had gift cards. As of 12:31 p.m., she scanned four $500 gift cards and the barcode that was linked to the victim’s account to make a $2051.83 fraud, according to the statement.
Daniels swiped two more $500 gift cards right away. After one minute, she scanned the barcode again to make a second purchase worth $1,013.90, the statement said.
Daniels and the man also went to the Lowe’s store at 3391 Daniels Road in Winder Garden on the same day. That man and Daniels took gift cards and Clorox Wipes and a dish brush to a self-checkout machine.
She used her phone to read the barcodes on four $500 gift cards and make a $2,031.31 fraud. The affidavit said that Daniels scanned two more $500 gift cards right away and then the barcode for a $1,018.44 purchase.
Daniels was finally found thanks to unique details about her that were found in camera footage, jail arrest records, North Carolina driver’s license records, social media posts, and other places.
A criminal encounter with Altamonte Springs Police that led to her identification put her in Central Florida within a few weeks of the times of the fraud. The body camera film showed her tattoo, and the affidavit said the officer could see her licence as she gave it to him.
During the fraudulent purchases, she could sometimes see the barcode and picture of Lowe’s credit card on the phone she was holding.
She was the main person involved in a planned scheme to steal credit card information and commit fraud. Similar valuable things were bought eight times at different places in two days using the same stolen credit card information in a planned, ongoing pattern of behaviour.
Daniels went to the Lake County Jail on Tuesday afternoon to face charges of organised fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card, and big theft (less than $20,000). After paying a $7,500 bond, she was let go.