An Ashburn, Va., man has been indicted on bank fraud charges after he allegedly exploited a flaw in a credit card payment system to buy nearly $200,000 in goods, including $115,000 in diamonds.
According to court documents, Tony Tung Tran would make large cash transfers from nearly empty or fake bank accounts to various credit cards. The credit card companies’ payment systems would immediately give Tran credit for the cash paid on his balance and his credit card limits would return to their peak. Within three days, the credit card companies discovered the payments Tran had made were fake, but by then the 36-year-old had allegedly already spent thousands of dollars.
To make the scheme work, authorities say, Tran transferred more than $600,000 in fraudulent funds. Eventually, the credit card companies demanded Tran pay the bills, which now far exceeded his credit card limits. When he failed to pay, he was arrested and charged with bank fraud.
Authorities believe Tran initiated the scheme in March 2009, court documents said. On March 24, 2009, he visited two jewelry stores, Ngoc Long Jewelry and Bach Tuyet Jewelry, both in Falls Church.
To have $27,300 to spend on the 1.5-carat diamond at Ngoc Long, Tran transferred $19,945 from a Bank of America account that held only $229 to a Visa credit card that had a $20,000 limit. He made another transfer of nearly $10,000 from a Wachovia account that held only $2,000 to a different Visa credit card, and transferred $24,635 from a nonexistent bank account to a third Visa that had a $25,000 limit. He then split the cost of the diamond up on each of the cards.
At Bach Tuyet, Tran spent $38,700 on a 1.52-carat diamond, authorities said. To make the credit available on a Visa card with a $25,000 limit and a MasterCard also with a $25,000 limit, he transferred $24,000 and then $19,000 from two nonexistent accounts.
Prosecutors are asking that Tran forfeit $16,900 they seized from his Ashburn house in March, a 2008 Lexus ES 350, and a 2009 Toyota Camry LE.
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