DUNWOODY, Ga. — Police say a Dunwoody waitress stole hundreds of dollars from customers using a device on her iPhone.
Nicey Joseph, 26, worked at the Olive Garden and Memphis BBQ on Ashford Dunwoody Road. Police say when Joseph got a customer’s credit card she would swipe it at the cash register. Then they say she would pull out her phone and using a mobile card reader called Spark Pay, she would swipe a customer’s card charging it up to $700.
Channel 2’s Craig Lucie spoke with a man who was a victim of the fraud.
“This charge really stood out at $450 bucks,” said Murali Niverthi
Niverthi says when he got his credit card statement, not only did the $450 charge stick out, but so did the company name.
“I looked at the name and it said Progressive Little Angels, something to that effect, and the address didn’t ring a bell,” said Niverthi.
Dunwoody police say they routinely investigate tip fraud at restaurants, but Joseph’s mobile card reader is one of their first.
“Credit card fraud is one of the biggest crimes we deal with. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t report the crime,” said Timothy Fecht with the Dunwoody Police Department.
The department and Niverthi are now putting out a warning to others to always stay on top of your credit card statements.
“I want to make sure people are aware that this kind of thing happens,” said Niverthi.
Memphis BBQ sent the following statement to Channel 2 Action News:
"As a company, we take the financial security of our customers extremely seriously. The incident with a former employee was an isolated one and in no way represents a broader reaching privacy breach. We are working closely with authorities in order to expedite their investigation of this individual and to ensure the privacy of our customers as it relates to this case."
Olive Garden also sent us a statement:
“The safety and privacy of our guests is one of our top priorities at Olive Garden, and we have a zero tolerance policy for any illegal activity in our restaurant. This was an isolated action by one individual who is no longer employed by Olive Garden.”