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ST. GEORGE — A St. George pawn shop is out thousands of dollars after getting caught in a fraud scheme, which led to the arrest of two Indiana men.
The owner of Discount Pawn called police Friday to report suspicious men in his store. One of the men had attempted to purchase several pieces of jewelry valued at $4,100, according to a probable cause statement filed by St. George Police in support of the arrest.
The man – identified as Verquell Lee Williams, 31, of South Bend, Indiana – had the owner run his debit card several times to complete the purchase but the card was declined each time, the report states.
Williams then called someone on the phone and told the owner it was a customer service representative from the 1-800 number on the back of the card, the arresting officer wrote in the sworn statement, adding:
"Verquell (Williams) then handed the phone to the pawn shop owner and the person on the other line began telling the owner how to enter some sort of transaction or authorization code. The owner stated the male on the other line was telling him things about his register system that even he didn’t know was possible."
Essentially, the person on the phone was telling the owner how to force the financial transaction through and override the system, the report states.
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