Overview
- Store surveillance from Oct. 18 shows a woman in a hoodie paying cash, waiting for a distraction, and slipping the wireless reader into her pocket.
- Owner Rene Ocampo says more than $18,000 vanished from the bakery’s account in the days after the device was taken.
- Bank of America told reporters the stolen reader appears to have been used to push through a fraudulent refund.
- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has opened a felony grand-theft investigation, and no arrests have been announced.
- A cybersecurity expert urged small merchants to add multi-factor authentication and real-time alerts as nearby owners also reported costly property attacks, including a failed van ram at a Metro by T-Mobile store.