The thief who stole nearly $10,000 worth of cards from Tom Brady's New York hobby shop is a repeat scammer, according to the New York Police Department.
The man visited CardVault by Tom Brady in SoHo three times Oct. 20. The first came before noon, when he tricked the cashier into thinking he paid for $2,623 worth of Pokémon and Topps baseball cards.
He manipulated the credit-card machine to make it look like the transaction was accepted, when it was actually declined, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at a press briefing.
The suspect returned two more times that day, "buying" $2,558 worth of merchandise from the same employee and then later another $4,528 in trading cards.
“For some reason the employee … hands him the credit-card machine, and he manipulates it in some fashion so the sale is approved,” Kenny said. “And rinse, repeat, does the same thing. Tries the credit card, doesn’t work. ‘Here, you try it,’ and he manipulates the machine.”
The NYPD does not believe the employee was a part of the scam, Kenny added.
After the NYPD released images of the suspect, they received tips from other hobby shops nationwide. Locally, a Brooklyn card shop called to say the man stole $500 worth of cards by using a fake passport Oct. 1.
Nashville law enforcement then alerted the NYPD that the man pulled the same credit card trick there, stealing $3,000 worth of cards, before selling them on eBay and at an Alabama card show.
“So this guy, he’s all over the place,” Kenny said, adding that attempts to use facial recognition software to identify the man have failed.
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Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.