Best Buy Frauds Probed in Stafford, Woodbridge

North Stafford, Va. –– Police are investigating a report of a possible credit card fraud that occurred at two Best Buy stores in the Potomac Communities.

Stafford sheriff’s deputies were called at 1:05 p.m. Monday to the Best Buy store at Stafford Marketplace on Garrisonville Road (Va. 610) after employees said a woman walked into the store and tired to purchase a camera.

While at the register, the woman swiped a credit card but it was declined, so she used another credit card and this time it worked –– but when asked for ID she couldn’t provide it and then left the store without the camera, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.

A short time later, another woman walked into the store and tried to purchase laptop using a credit card but it was again declined. But the woman pulled out a second credit card that worked, and she was able to provide an ID for the card.

However, the first name on the card was the same as the card used when the first woman tried to purchase the camera, which raised eyebrows of the loss prevention employees at the electronics store.

The woman was able to leave the store with the merchandise, said Kennedy.

Sheriff’s deputies were called, and a loss prevention clerk followed the two women outside of the store and watched them get into what looked like a gold 4-door sedan, said Kennedy.

Shortly thereafter, the Best Buy store in Woodbridge reported a possible credit card fraud at that location on Prince William Parkway. According to Kennedy, the two women fit the same description of the two women that visited the Best Buy in North Stafford.

Kennedy and a Prince William police spokeswoman said they did not have information Wednesday afternoon that would determine if the two women were able to purchase anything from the Woodbridge location.

Stafford authorities are also investigating another report filed Monday from a clerk who works at a Ross clothing store in Stafford Marketplace. That clerk told authorities that two women fitting the same description of the women at the Best Buy stores stole her wallet.

The first female is described as a middle-age black woman, with black hair, wearing a black hat, wearing a two-piece gray jumpsuit and glasses with thick temples on them, 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 7 inches tall, 150 pounds.

The second female is also described as a middle age black woman, with a black shoulder-length hair, wearing a dark sleeved shirt, white Capri pants, wearing glasses and sandals, 5 feet tall, 160 pounds.

Anyone with information in this case is encouraged to call Stafford County Crime Solvers.