Cashier Suspected of Credit Scam Involving Palm Pilot

NEW YORK — A tourist from Greece buying sunglasses at Bloomingdale’s here may have foiled a credit card scam, police said.

The tourist, a financial analyst whose name was not released, said he noticed that his card was swiped twice when he purchased the sunglasses Monday.

Police Commissioner Howard Safir alleged that the cashier swiped the card through the store’s credit card device, then swiped it a second time through a credit card scanner attached to her Palm Pilot, a hand-held electronic organizer.

The tourist “asked what this was about, and he did not get a sufficient explanation, so he complained to the manager, and the manager then called us,” Safir said.

Investigators are trying to determine how many credit card numbers are stored on a Palm Pilot that is believed to belong to Tania Ventura, 26, a cashier at the East Side department store, Safir said. Ventura has been charged with criminal possession of forgery devices, unlawful duplication of computer data, criminal possession of computer material and criminal possession of stolen property--all of which are felonies. She could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

“This device is capable of storing thousands of credit card numbers,” Safir said of the Palm Pilot, “and obviously, this individual was involved in stealing people’s credit card numbers to sell or use for fraudulent purposes.”

Safir urged shoppers to keep their eyes on their credit cards after they hand them to cashiers.

Bloomingdale’s spokeswoman Bonnie Brownlee said the is cooperating with the police.