Credit Card Fraud 101 | Statute of Limitations hosted by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino | Forensic Files

hey it's your boy Mike The Situation Santino welcome to statute of limitations it's the ultimate lineup
it's Cooks this is not my fault that I stole this car it's conmen this is my chance I can be rich for life it's WN to
be queing pins we all made together $500,000 and queen pins it was basically a lounge of
criminals these are stories of the nonviolent lucky punks and Robin hoods that Dodge the law I could have gone to
prison not jail prison because here's the situation baby it's only a matter of time before the statute of limitations
is up and technically you might walk away scotf free but don't take it from me guys guys I'm obviously no lawyer
this is statute of limitations what's up I'm Mike The Situation sorantino on this episode of
statute of limitations the story of a man his mother-in-law the desert and a shovel dig this guys we all know to get
out of the hole you got to put down the shovel and apparently he forgot right now now it's a young lady with a scam
for the ages she swiped more credit card accounts than you can count and we have
people for that we do and in Illinois where her story takes place fraud can put you in prison for years talk about
an uncomfortable situation and I would know here's a story of how she managed to avoid paying the ultimate price meet
Kim hi I'm Kimberly and I committed credit card fraud with my brother and we got away with it okay so the year was
1987 I was at the University of Illinois now you have to be in the mindset that this is before the days of computers so
that meant it was very very easy to get away with wrongdoings I was the quintessential good girl we're talking
Church two to three times a week class president I used to find Strays and find homes for them I didn't drink didn't
smoke didn't curse didn't have Sexes of Virgin and so I was 1,000% a good girl my
brother quite opposite 1,000% the opposite so my brother starts working at a high-end Boutique inside of an airport
and because it's on the international terminal there are a lot of wealthy people that go in and out of that
particular area of the airport my brother being who he is even since childhood has always had a scheme
or a scam for us to be able to make money so he has this idea of what if we sell credit card numbers now you need to
know this was the 80s so there was a credit card imprinter and you would take the credit card and you would lay it
down under a series of carbons and so sometimes the client would take the carbons back and sometimes they would
ask you to just throw them away well the thing is when you keep the carbons it's
a complete imprint of your credit card information back then it was so common to say to
someone if you were in a store you would say to the person do you want your carbons and that was to avoid credit
card fraud and so what he would do is he would do a little psychological game where he would go you don't want these
dirty carbons because it would leave this black ink all over your fingers then he would get the person out of the
store and then he would have a stack of carbons by the end of the day so here's where I come in my brother needed
clients we had the plan we needed the clientele and so what better than a college campus and people that need to
travel during winter break spring break summer break etc etc so I let it be known to just a couple of people that I
could get them really cheap plane tickets and so then a handful of people came to me and they were like hey I want
to go to Miami for spring break hey I want to go to Colorado and so then I would say okay how many tickets do you
need and then I would let him know all right we got a Cent what would we charge for this and he's like okay three
tickets to Miami during spring break that's going to be $75 per ticket so then I would get the $75 they would get
the credit card number and then sometimes depending upon the person I would then also make the reservations
for them the best part of this situation is because it was the time before computers is that whenever I would call
or whenever I would give the numbers I really had low fear because it was very very difficult to track what we were
doing I would do different accents and I would pretend to be different people so
if I called and acted like I was from the heart of Georgia then for whatever reason the agent on the other side would
just say ma'am let me check that one more time for you and they were just so accommodating and British you can speak
slower and they will take their time with you because they feel as though if you have a British accent and you are
booking a flight to Switzerland you must be important mhm yeah I recall my very first client
um my neighbors across the hall I would get the money they would get the credit card numbers I was scared I was
absolutely positively terrified and I did it after the first sale it was kind of like a rebirth of the Kim I was
officially a bad girl and um I absolutely positively liked it but it really wasn't who I was but it was
one of those like who I could be and so I was still involved in student government I was helping out at the
local shelter and then I had this illegal side business of credit card fraud but I think I kind of had this
thought of as long as I'm putting a lot of good out into the world it balances the fact that I I pretty much have a a
crime ring back then we did not have social media so everything was about word of
mouth and before you knew it Word of Mouth let's just say I started trending people were knocking on the door and
then it was like who's this random man and who's this random woman and then it was like oh so and so from such and such
fraternity said that you got them tickets to Aspen and such and such and so on and I was like who and so then it
was the do I trust you and then I was terrified that somebody was going to snitch on me and take down the whole
business so then it became where I would make people wait so you would have to wait and then you would kind of have to
like meet me in the quad at a certain hour so I was so afraid that they like had a wire on them and there was a whole
sting you know cuz I came from a theatrical background so I was like there's something deeper going on and I
was like I'm literally in the middle of a detective story right now I was like so who sent you you
know and so I would Chase back like hey so and so do you know such and such did you tell them uh about me and they're
like oh yeah yeah yeah he's cool it got so huge that I had to enlist my friend and so now I'm making enough where I can
bring her in but now she's also got word of mouth going on and it's just growing
and it's growing I was bringing in anywhere between, 1500 and 2,000 a month now mind you in
1987 that's a lot of money shoot that's a lot of money now really if you think about it but I was doing very very well
I'm growing fast than what my paranoia can process I'm terrified and happiest I've ever been in my entire life because
my social stature has changed so I'm at the biggest parties everybody knows me I've got money in the bank I'm shopping
and I am living the Hollywood Life in the corn fields of Illinois and so it's senior year and we have come to an end
and so now it is spring and so the four of us now take a trip or planning a trip to the Bahamas so we're
sitting at the airport we're all packed up we're ready to go sunscreen in hand baby let's roll and all of a sudden we
look up and here's where my life of crime ends Kim's credit card travel scheme may
have started off okay like most schemes but things are about to go sou way South
when she realizes that all of these flight charges could get her charged with a couple decades in the clink no
bueno the story takes a whole new Direction on statute of limitations next we're back with more statute of
limitations we last left Kim as she continued her career of crime using stolen credit cards to cash in now her
number actually might be up cuz even if you use someone else's card you still end up paying for it yourself because in
Jersey karma is not just a club just watch and so it's senior year and we have come to an end and so now it is
spring break and so the four of us now are planning a trip to the Bahamas so we get to the airport and because of me
being the queen that I am these days I decide to splurge and pay for the private Admirals Club before beforehand
so that we can wait inside the private Lounge so we're waiting in the lounge and it's pretty empty cuz it's kind of
early in the day and we notice that there's like basically only one other guy in there in the corner that's kind
of sitting behind us and all of a sudden we look up and a ton of cops are now standing in
the lounge and they have their hands on their holsters like they're ready to draw so I look at my friend she looks at
me and we're like The Jig Is up the police are coming full speed and they say freeze and we of course every muscle
enses up we're balling and then they walk right past us and they arrest the guy behind
us oh my God I can I can still feel like the the fear in my chest so I decided after that we're done clean break the
business is over we are packing up shop um my social status has now completely changed I am
now part of the gossip I'm no longer invited to the parties because I'm no longer offering the service and it was
really kind of depressing and terrifying um because I kind of lost myself for a little bit and then I had to for when I
say decades I mean 30 years 25 30 years of always worried about my karmatic debt
of have I paid back enough to Society for what I did what was wrong and has it happened yes I have had my credit cards
hacked I do believe four times now four times and it's a horrible feeling and um
I know I'll never know who those people were that I was able to um sell their numbers for college
student travel but um this is my formal apology I'm sorry I'm definitely sorry and you better believe I have paid for
it let that be a lesson Kim may have thought that she got away after she quit her life of crime her life definitely
declined because there's no statute of limitations when it comes to Karma so if you're ever thinking about stealing
credit cards you better check yourself because you're going to have a situation right now it's time to hear from a guy
who absolutely hates his mother-in-law big surprise what is the surprise is that he decided to commit the mother of
all crimes to get back at her by stealing everything that she owns and that right there is definitely a plan
this son of a actually pulled it off without a hitch I do not meet Matt hi I'm Matt and I robbed my
mother-in-law it was 2002 I was living in Nevada at the time I was working for a trucking company just trying to make
ends meet I got married very young I had a child even younger wasn't any secret that my mother-in-law thought that I
wasn't good enough enough for her daughter she was like an ultimate Karen like a litigious Karen she respected No
Boundaries always was at my residence uh in my house demeaning me there's an invasive species that can take over a
habitat and ruin an ecosystem that's basically my mother-in-law I remember at one point we had a repair man come to
the house and to her that was just evidence of me not being like a man's man so she was taking a dig like that
and then I remember the conversation turned my son they were doing like a time capsule project she had started
talking about like all these heirlooms that she had purchased so another thing you need to know about my mother-in-law
is that she has a an obsession with fine heart one thing in particular she was talking about this original painting
that she had her hands on in that moment it was like a light bulb went off I just
remember sitting there at the table and just thinking I'm stealing this [Music] painting I guess I was aware enough to
know that if I was going to do this that I was going to have to have things lined
up beforehand and I also realized like I don't really know anything about art how
am I going to like sell a piece of stolen artwork it wasn't really about money or artwork to begin with it was
just more about spiting my mother-in-law probably a lot of guys out there that can relate to that so that's kind of
when I came up with the idea of just bearing it like a time capsule and so here I am out in the desert at
this discreet location that I picked I'm digging a hole with a pickaxe and a shovel I can't help but think the last
time someone was out here burying something it was probably a body so I did that ahead of time but I still
wasn't even actually sure if I was going to follow through with it until I was presented with more of an opportunity my
wife's motherdaughter annual Spa SL wine tasting weekend together once that was kind of on the calendar I knew it's like
this is it this is the weekend I'm going to do it my only responsibilities for the weekend were to take care of my
mother-in-law's dog and to drop my son off at a soccer game I packed our minivan with the Pelican box and a
cooler full of Refreshments we drove him to his game walked him out on the sideline made sure
there were lots of parents that saw me there I said hello made my appearances so I snuck off to the car drove straight
to my mother-in-law's house and just started grabbing stuff I mean I took everything all the prints off the walls
the expensive ones the reproductions the Fine China so I remember I get everything loaded into the car and
adrenaline's just going crazy and I'm about to get out of there and I had the Epiphany like this is going to look too
clean like you just let yourself in like who are they going to come ask questions
to the guy that has been watching the dog and that has a garage door opener and a key to the house I'm freaking out
cuz I'm like you don't know what you're doing I'm second guessing myself so I was like you got to make this look like
somebody else did it so at that point I was like I got to smash a window I went out into the backyard without trying to
be seen and I picked up a rock out of her garden and I threw it it just clanked the side of the house so I picked the
rock up again I chucked it and it smash the window in you can't just smash a window with a rock they're not going to
assume that that's how they got in then you got to go up and then like push the window up like they let thems in so I
ran back up and I kind of pushed the window next to the broken one up to make it look like they reached through the
hole that The Rock had made and pushed the window up at that point I don't know did the Neighbors hear the broken window
has anyone seen me like you've wasted entirely too much time you got to you got to go so like I was all ready to
leave and then I'm just panicking at that point I feel like I'm just running circles around the house the windows
broke let's haul ass out of here I got to get in the car I got to I got to get out of here immediately I just remember
like trying to calmly exit the garage calmly drive out of the neighborhood but then I got to a highway and I just
started burning cuz I realized there was only so long that I could be gone before
people started asking me questions I've got to the location as quick as I could in the minivan and I
just took that Pelican box out of the back and I just threw it in the hole and I started covering it with dirt
I'm just pushing everything in I was digging as furiously as frantically as I could I mean it was broad daylight and
then I just hear a helicopter circling around above me and I look up and it's just flying over and I'm like I'm done
like I've already been caught it's kind of like a scene out of Good Fellas it's got the Choppers and
the coppers but he went to the desert to bury his mother-in-law's art not his mother-in-law so how did Matt clean out
his mother-in-law's house and make a clean getaway we've got all the dirty details next on statute of
limitations we're back with more statute of limitations where our boy Matt was so
fed up with his mother-in-law he decided to rob her blind unfortunately for him the cops aren't blind because now
they're on to him I know right anyway so how did Matt manage to escape the long arm of the law he'll tell you right now
check this out I just hear a helicopter circling around above me and I look up and it's
just flying over and I'm like I'm done I've already been caught I was digging as furiously as frantically as I could I
mean it was broad daylight at this point I'm just trying to get it done and get out of there I just remember trying to
calm myself and steady myself I was literally like hands shaking as I drove and I was just trying to
like find a way to get my heart rate down and to calm myself so that I wasn't going to look all sweaty and dirty and
weird when I got back to my son's game so like I mean I was basically trying to like show up like I was a soccer mom
with Refreshments like I got orange wedges and RC Cola everybody but uh you know I just committed a
robbery so after we get home from the game like I'm just sitting around waiting until Sunday evening until my
mother-in-law and wife get home I've got all the time in the world basically to go over in my head over and over again
like what did I miss what did I screw up was I seen who saw me like it's enough to like literally make someone lose
their mind so I basically was just sitting around waiting for my mother-in-law going to hysterically tell
us how her house had got robbed I have to react like this is all news to me like somehow I'm sympathetic
to her situation but in reality in my head I'm like screw this lady you know obviously when your house is Rob police
are going to come around and ask lots of questions they came over and asked me you know where I was and I was a nervous
wreck on the inside you know like I'm like here's the day they finally you know they're finally going to put it all
together like they're asking me all these questions question like when was the last time you went by the house you
know I told him like Saturday morning I put some food out you know for the dog they asked me some questions about like
whether or not i' noticed any suspicious activity or if I had seen anything or what the state of the house was I guess
when I was there you know told him it was normal obviously that I hadn't really noticed anything and you know I
felt like I there was no way I didn't feel or look guilty when they're asking me questions but you know to my surprise
they were mostly just asking me administrative stuff part of the slow dissipation of me like realizing I had
probably gotten away was that was uh when my mother-in-law got her insurance check you know like she wasn't satisfied
with it you know ate at her that she didn't have the artwork there's some crimes you
regret this one isn't one for me for me it was never about the money it was just
about creating some chaos for my mother-in-law it's no surprise I'm no longer with my wife you can't Rob your
mother-in-law and then keep a healthy [Laughter] relationship uh it was probably headed
there anyway to this day I've still never dug any of it up to find out how valuable it is one day my son's going to
be able to dig that up like a time capsule and find out for himself would I ever do this again absolutely
not I will never get married again and that's my story of barried treasure thanks to the laws of the land
Matt got away from his Crime Free and Clear and got the one thing every man wants for his mother-in-law payback
except for me I love my mother-in-law Mom I hope you're watching love you that does it for this episode but if you like
those stories of regular folks committing crimes without ever doing the time we've got a whole lot more lined up
for you I'm Mike The Situation stino see you next time on statute of limitations this program is for
entertainment purposes only and it is not legal advice the statute of limitations are complicated and depend
on many factors if you need advice you should seek legal counsel from a competent attorney in your
[Music] jurisdiction [Music] oh yeah [Music] yeah [Music]

Kim, an unassuming college student, found herself in way over her head in a credit card scam, which had the potential for severe consequences. Matt, a man exhausted by his mother-in-law, discovered a way to pull a fast one over her. Hosted by the iconic Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Statute of Limitations pushes the boundaries of justice as individuals confess to non-violent crimes that have long surpassed the statute of limitations. Each episode features the stories of those brazen enough to confess their secret crimes. New episodes of Statute of Limitations will be posted every Friday and Sunday at 6:00pm EST. If you’re ready for more crazy stories, brought to you by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, comment below and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button!

Brief Summary

Kimberly and Matt share their stories of committing credit card fraud and a robbery, reflecting on the consequences of their actions.

Key points

Kim's Credit Card Scheme. Kim shares her journey from a good girl to a credit card fraudster.
Matt's Revenge on His Mother-in-Law. Matt details his outrageous plan to rob his mother-in-law out of spite.
A Story of Buried Treasure. Reflecting on the chaos created for his mother-in-law, he vows never to marry again.
Crime and Payback. Matt got away from his crime and got the one thing every man wants for his mother-in-law: payback.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was officially a bad girl and I absolutely positively liked it.

Kim reflects on her transformation after committing credit card fraud.

5:52WatchFeb 18, 2024

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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