Two Brooklyn, N.Y., men were taken into custody Wednesday evening after allegedly attempting to pay for merchandise at a West Norwalk electronics store with a forged credit card.
An employee of Best Buy, 330 Connecticut Ave., called police after a customer handed him a credit card supposedly issued by Bank of America to pay for two Apple 64GB iPads.
According to police spokesman Lt. Praveen John, the employee became suspicious when the men entered the store, and one approached him claiming interest in purchasing the devices while the other stood a distance away, appearing to serve as a lookout.
The man making the purchase handed the employee a credit card labeled as being issued by the Bank of America. The employee told police the hologram image on the card looked irregular, and a security code on the back of the card, usually printed, was handwritten.
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Just to be certain, John said, the employee went to another worker and asked to see his Bank of America credit card. Confirming the difference in appearance between the two cards, the employee called police at 6:54 p.m.
When the first officer arrived, John said, the employee showed him a live surveillance video image of the man he thought was serving as a lookout. The officer approached the man, later identified as Craig Ragland, handcuffed him and put him in a patrol car.
John said the officer asked Ragland to provide identification, and reported when Ragland opened his wallet, he noticed it contained several credit cards that also appeared irregular in appearance. He reported questioning Ragland about the cards and the man admitted they were forgeries.
Meantime the employee called Bank of America security and was advised the credit card belonged to a foreign account. The bank security employee said the customer should be asked to provided his social security number to confirm the validitiy of the purchase.
The man who presented the card, later identified as Dia Springer, refused to provide his social security number.
Rangland, 28, was charged with four counts of forging a symbol of value.
Springer, 27, was charged with forging a symbol of value, illegal use of a credit card, receipt of money, goods or services obtained by illegal use of a credit card, and criminal attempt at fifth-degree larceny.
Both were held on $25,000 bond and given court dates of Sept. 25.
