International credit card ring busted in Bladen County

BLADEN COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Bladen County Sheriff’s deputies captured two men traveling on Venezuelan passports last week as investigators say they were using cloned credit cards to withdraw money from an ATM in Clarkton.

Sheriff James McVicker said they got a call from the security department of the State Employees Credit Union last Thursday alerting them to the two men at the Cash Points ATM in Clarkton withdrawing money with fraudulent credit cards. The bank was tracking the men as they used the ATMs.

Investigators say they had withdrawn money from another Cash Points in Southport earlier in the day, but got away before law enforcement officers could get there.

A Bladen County Sheriff’s Office says a deputy in Clarkton caught the two men in the process of withdrawing money.

McVicker said the men had more than 326 magnetic cards already cloned and were using them to withdraw cash from the ATM machines. During the investigation deputies seized a card skimming device and four laptops.

“The difficult part of cases like this is they are international in scope,” said McVicker. “In this particular case all the cloned cards being used were from European countries. We have identified victims from several countries. Many times we will have Bladen County residents who call us and say their credit card was used in another country or state either to withdraw cash or pay for an online purchase or hotel room. We do not have the local resources to investigate these cases. We have reached out to both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service to assist us in this case. What we have uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Edgar Gabriel Useche, 28, and Olinto Useche-Salazar 38, of Venezuela were arrested. Both men were placed in Bladen County Jail under a $1 million bond.

Both men had visas to enter the country and had been here since June. McVicker said his investigators know the two men have traveled from Miami to Chicago and back on at least one occasion.

The men were staying in a hotel in Conway, SC. Investigators went to Conway and executed a search warrant on their hotel room. Investigators says the found four laptops, a card skimming device, notebooks, ledgers, more than $7,000 in US currency and more than  $30,000 in foreign currency.

Edgar Useche listed his occupation as a Chemical Engineer and Olinto Useche-Salazar listed his occupation as an attorney.

“We expect to be making additional state charges in the coming days and we believe there will also be federal charges before this case is concluded,” said McVicker.