Identity Thieves Check Stolen Credit Cards Through Domino’s, Buy New Yorkers Pizza

Brooklyn police apparently keep tabs on the social media accounts of the usual suspects. Y’know, in case someone brags about illegal shenanigans. One post, in particular, raised some eyebrows:

Who wants free pizza?

An image of the Domino’s logo would occasionally appear near the question that was often repeated on Facebook channels.

Turns out identity thieves were testing to see whether credit card numbers worked by using them to order pizza from Domino’s. The pizza company told the authorities that they had a spike in sales from the area. The cops dug a little deeper and discovered that the card numbers were from all over the US, with some cardholders calling in to protest pizza charges.

The thieves would order the pizzas through a phone app and would then have them sent to people in the area, thus securing the validity of the cards.

Authorities contacted the Domino’s pizza locations in the area. Turns out individuals were making a record number of orders, more than usual for a common household. Attempts to purchase pizza through the app would be made even after multiple rejected credit cards. One customer was said to have ordered 2,000 times within a month.

Police have since arrested 14 suspects tied to the pizza ring, some of whom claim they were only involved for the free pizza.

Now if this was Domino’s Pizza from a few years ago, we would have taken a hard pass.

h/t New York Times