On 8 April 2010 a con man calling himself Brent Docker purchased
two $500 American Express gift cards from CVS (probably on South Beach,
Miami). He photoshopped out the numbers and had his name from an earlier
gift card Personalized "member since 06!" previously purchased from American
Express (paid for how?). He then used two real Amex account numbers at
PayPal to send nearly $1000 in rental fees in two lots, slightly less than
$500 each (the only eyebrow raiser in this transaction). The good looking
artwork card was then emailed along with the similarly fabricated New
York driver's license (picture IS THE GUY) and a similarly fabricated
insurance certificate (the company said it was the best they had seen --
with correct number sequences to validate it but IT WAS ALSO FAKE).
We are not done yet. There were carefully fictionalized threads of
emails with insurance and production company people emailing back and
forth. Every single person is fiction. All the email addresses are
bogus. The U-Turn Entertainment name was familiar to the rental staff,
so they did not red flag ANY OF THIS. And away 'Docker' went with the
three most popular cameras in the world today, back ordered everywhere, plus
three high ticket lenses. The serial numbers of the stolen goods are all
on file at the NCIC / CJIS computer center at the FBI and on a reward
poster at www.RewardForReturn.com.
Chapter Two: Shortly after he rented the cameras he listed them on
Craigslist for sale on South Beach for $4000 each. They sold in no time.
Our efforts to get an undercover cop to buy them did not work out.
BUT "DOCKER'S" FIRST MISTAKE MIGHT BE THIS: Greedy, not wanting to toss
residual money left on the scam-purposed gift cards, "Brent Docker" may have
visited the following locations on South Beach to spend every cent:
10 April 2010 Five Guys $6.74
10 April 2010 South Beach Food Market $7.99
10 April 2010 Surf Style $33.15
Whether "Docker" is still hanging around South Beach can be learned by accessing
IP information and going to retailers with his picture. Hopefully we can
pinpoint sales persons to see if they recall him eating or buying at the
locations on more and continuing occasions.
WARNING: Docker will not quit his very specialized, experience-rich, and
capable con actions with one rental house.
The following files are in PDF format: