A lot of times credit card companies are good about not making credit card holders pay for fraudulent purchases, but a lot of times the fraudsters are never caught.

In today’s story, the person who committed credit card fraud made a few big mistakes that actually made it pretty easy for the police to find him.

Let’s see how the story unfolds…

Credit card skimmer gets what he bought with my card…and a bit extra

This story starts off with a slightly less humorous fact…a few days ago I was on the unfortunate end of credit card fraud.

The fraudsters decided to take my CC info and purchase $1000 worth of car parts from Philly and have it sent across the border to the city I currently live in, Vancouver, Canada.

Normally, this is where the story ends.

Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don’t, but either way my card is replaced and I continue on living my life.

This however, is where the fun starts happening.

OP found out where the fraudsters live.

I got a call this morning about a DHL shipment entering the country that required customs to be paid.

Knowing I haven’t shipped anything with DHL in forever (they are the worst), I quickly come to the realisation that it must be the fraudsters shipping their goods here.

“It can’t be!” I thought. Who in their right mind would use a stolen credit card to order something to their own house in the city the owner of the card lives.

After a brief chat with DHL about the customs fees I will not be paying, I manage to obtain the address the package was being sent to. I hummed and hawed about it but eventually decided the best thing to do was call the local police department and let them know what was up.

The police officer agreed to check it out.

I told the officer all about the situation. That unfortunately I did not know what car the parts were for and that I hope this info helps them somehow in the future.

He tells me that the chances are slim, but he will swing by the house (it’s literally 15 minutes from my own) just to see if anything weird is going on and follow up with me if he needs to.

I thank him and go on with my work day.

About an hour later I get a call from the same officer, obviously excited.

DHL arrived while the police officer was at the door.

“Hi AtelierVieuxPont, It’s Officer X. You will never guess what just happened. I was following up on the report and drove by the house. I decided to go knock on the door just to see if anyone was home and ask them a couple questions. A man opened the door and as we were talking, DHL drove up to deliver the package. Yes that’s right, the exact package we had been discussing.

The delivery driver walks up to the door and says ‘Hi, is AtelierVieuxPont there?’ to which the man replies ‘Oh yeah, he’s just downstairs.’

You can imagine my surprise!

The police officer ended up arresting the fraudster!

‘That’s pretty funny, because I just got off the phone with him and I know for a fact he doesn’t live here’ I said.

The guy, no joke, looks me dead in the face and goes, ‘Oh whatever, the package is paid for.’

I chuckled and turned to the DHL driver to tell him he should leave because I need to make an arrest.

I’m calling you while I drive back to the precinct, thought it might brighten your day!”

I still cannot believe that they caught the guy, but thought it was a story that was too good not to share.

That’s a great story because people who commit credit card fraud often don’t get caught; however, I’m not sure it’s really revenge. It was more like lucky circumstances (for OP and the police officer not the fraudster).

Let’s see how Reddit reacted…

This reader points out how the criminal made the case easy.

Another reader feels better about the “universe” after this story.

Here’s the perspective of someone who investigates credit card fraud…

Another reader is worried about OP’s safety.

This reader has a question about customs.

If only all credit card fraudsters made it this easy to catch them!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.