2 Youths Held in Computer-Fraud Thefts

Two youths have been arrested in connection with a computer and credit card scheme that Irvine police said stretched from the trash bins of a Newport Beach shopping center to various East Coast distributing companies and back to Orange County.

A 17-year-old Irvine youth and a 15-year-old boy from Tustin were arrested Thursday and charged with grand theft and fraud, Sgt. Tom Hume said. Both youths, who were not identified by police because of their ages, were released to the custody of their parents. A hearing on the charges is not expected before next month.

Police said the youths, copying an idea they learned about on a so-called electronic bulletin board, went through trash bins behind Fashion Island Shopping Center in Newport Beach and elsewhere in the area in November in search of credit card carbons. Then, utilizing computers to match card numbers with the names and addresses of the card holders, the two youths were able to place orders for merchandise, he said.

Hume said they ordered $3,000 worth of electronic goods through toll-free telephone numbers--calls that cannot be traced to the caller--and ordered the merchandise sent to vacant houses in Irvine and Tustin.

Most of the goods, including Sony Walkmans and Watchmans, Panasonic telephones and various computer and stereo accessories, came from catalogue houses on the East Coast, police said. But firms like the Computer Bank of Huntington Beach and Pacific Bell also were victimized. At one point the two youths stopped by a Best Co. store to pick up a catalogue from which to order, Hume said.

Because of similar schemes around the country, some credit card companies now produce forms in which the carbon is manufactured as backing to front sheets, making separate carbons unnecessary. Other companies and retail outlets urge shoppers to destroy the carbons when they are used.

In addition, if an order for merchandise is to be sent to an address other than that listed with the card, a company may call back for verification.

Irvine police became involved in the case when a local resident called to complain that she had received a verification letter for a $1,000 order she did not place. Hume said that subsequently an informant notified him that several students at University High in Irvine were making illegal telephone calls.

With the assistance of several of the computer clearinghouses involved, including the Source and Compu-Card, as well as the Anaheim office of United Parcel Service, police were able to track down and stop shipment of most of the merchandise.

When arrested, Hume said, the youths and their families waived their rights to counsel and explained how the operation worked, supplying investigators with a complete log of their activities. None of the items had been resold.

The two youths also boasted of having tangled directory assistance in New York City with a complex “teleconference” call and of breaking into the Olympic Village telephone system last summer in order to speak with Mary Lou Retton, Hume said.

“I think this whole thing was a game to them,” Hume said. “They’re highly intelligent kids. If they ever channel all this super-knowledge in the right direction they’ll go a long way.”