A North Carolina woman turned herself in Tuesday for taking part in a defrauding scheme worth over $11,700 using Lowe’s credit cards last year.
Erica Latrice Daniels, 36, was reported to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for her role in a fraud scheme involving stolen Lowe’s customers’ credit card account information amounting to a sustained loss of $11,755.45 in Lake and Orange Counties, according to an affidavit of probable cause out of Lake County.
Synchrony Bank, or SYB, issues private label credit cards for retail clients, including Lowe’s. In April 2023, SYB’s Special Investigation Team began looking into a multimillion-dollar loss scheme involving Lowe’s private label credit card accounts. The scheme involved individuals buying Lowe’s customers’ account information from the dark web that included, but was not limited to, PIIs, phone numbers, account usernames and passwords.
The individuals would next access the victims’ accounts through the Lowe’s app and obtain barcodes through the app that contained the account numbers for victims’ Lowe’s accounts. The individuals would then enter a Lowe’s store and buy gift cards using the barcodes on their smartphone. The purchases would be small dollar items along with the gift cards, the affidavit said.
During the investigation, a subject was identified using a barcode from a Lowe’s account for fraudulent transactions at a Lowe’s in Gainesville. A review of the account revealed a phone number called SYB to access this account, but this was not a phone number for the cardholder. A check of the phone number in the SYB database revealed they called to fraudulently access 29 Lowe’s accounts. All 29 accounts had fraudulent transactions throughout Florida, the affidavit said.
Lowe’s Loss Prevention provided CCTV, or surveillance footage, of the fraudulent transactions. On April 16, 2023, Daniels and a male subject went into Lowe’s, located at 18795 U.S. Hwy. 441 in Mount Dora. At 2:32 p.m., they approached the self-checkout terminal, the affidavit said.
Daniels was in possession of several gift cards while the man was carrying a container of laundry detergent. She tried to buy the gift cards but was denied without photo ID. The man scanned the detergent. Daniels scanned the barcode on her smartphone which was linked to the victim’s Lowe’s account. The transaction totaled $20.51, the affidavit said.
On the same day, Daniels and the man went to another Lowe’s, located at 9540 U.S. Hwy. 441 in Leesburg. At 2:57 p.m., they approached the self-checkout terminal. This time, she scanned two $500 gift cards for purchase and scanned the barcode linked to the victim’s account on her smartphone to complete a fraudulent transaction worth $1,011.90, the affidavit said.
Daniels and the man came back to the same store one hour later wherein they returned to the self-checkout terminal. She carried several gift cards while he carried a pack of light bulbs. Daniels scanned the lights bulbs and five $500 gift cards. At 3:54 p.m., she scanned the barcode linked to the victim’s account on her phone for the $2,564.27 fraudulent transaction, the affidavit said.
The final Lowe’s visited by Daniels and the man that day was located at 1657 W. Orange Blossom Trail in Apopka. They went to a self-checkout terminal with Daniels carrying gift cards and the man carrying a pack of toilet paper. She scanned the items, four $500 gift cards and the barcode on her phone for a $2,043.29 fraudulent transaction, the affidavit said.
On April 17, the suspects entered Lowe’s, located at 8700 Colonial Drive in Orlando, and went to a self-checkout terminal. Daniels carried gift cards, and the man carried bottles of Armor A11 and Rain-X. At 12:31 p.m., she scanned the merchandise ad four $500 gift cards along with the barcode linked to the victim’s account for a fraudulent transaction worth $2051.83, the affidavit said.
Daniels immediately scanned two more $500 gift cards. A minute later, she scanned the barcode again for another transaction worth $1,013.90, the affidavit said.
On the same day, Daniels and the man also went to a Lowe’s located at 3391 Daniels Road in Winder Garden. Daniels carried gift cards while the man carried Clorox Wipes and a dish brush to a self-checkout terminal. She scanned four $500 gift cards and the barcode on her phone for a $2,031.31 fraudulent transaction. Daniels immediately scanned two more $500 gift cards followed by the barcode for another transaction valued at $1,018.44, the affidavit said.
Daniels was ultimately identified through her distinctive personal characteristics from surveillance footage, jail arrest records, North Carolina driver’s license records, social media posts and more. An Altamonte Springs Police criminal encounter where she was identified placed her in Central Florida within a few weeks of the fraudulent transaction dates. Her tattoo was visible in the body camera video, and her license was visible as she handed it to the officer, the affidavit said.
The barcode and Lowe’s credit card image was visible on the smartphone in her hand at times during the fraudulent transactions. She was the primary party in an organized scheme to defraud and fraudulent use of credit card information. The pattern of activity used the same stolen credit card information in a systematic, ongoing course of conduct to obtain similar items of value eight times at multiple locations in a two-day period.
Daniels turned herself in to the Lake County Jail on Tuesday afternoon for a warrant charging her with organized fraud, fraudulent use of credit card and grand theft (less than $20k). She was released after posting $7,500 bond.