Police: Long Island Duo Busted in Phoenixville for Credit Card Scam

A man and a woman from Long Island were busted in Phoenixville on Thursday after a fake credit card scam went awry, East Pikeland Police are reporting.

Ramon Dennis Butler, 20, and Elisa Chantel Akins, 20, each face 84 felony counts of using an access device that is counterfeit, altered, or incomplete, conspiracy to use an access device that is counterfeit, altered, or incomplete, receiving stolen property, and forgery, plus an additional 16 counts each of theft by deception and retail theft.

According to court documents, East Pikleand Police were dispatched to the Wawa at 501 Kimberton Road on October 18 at 12:54 p.m. for a report of possible credit card fraud.

Once there, the store manager handed police the credit card and New York driver’s license of the suspect, later identified as Akins.

The manager told police that Akins was attempting to purchase two $100 prepaid REloadit cards with a credit card that was initially declined and then, when she entered the number manually, registered as “number not unknown.”

Butler, who was driving Akins, admitted to police at the scene that he was involved in a credit card scam, at which point both he and Akins were detained and taken to the East Pikeland Police Department.

During the subsequent interview, Akins told police that she stole blank Walmart gift cards in New York and provided them to Butler, who then, through a mechanism that police didn’t disclose, made them “fake credit cards” that could be used to purchase legitimate prepaid debit cards.

Butler had a friend rent a car from the JFK Airport that morning, and he and Akins set off to Montgomery and Chester counties to carry out the fraud at multiple Wawa stores.

Akins added that Butler had come to the area before to carry out a similar scheme.

Akins told police she had 25 of the fake Walmart cards and multiple prepaid REloadit cards. A subsequent search of the rental car yielded 24 of the Wal-Mart cards and 12 REloadit cards, each valued at $100.

Akins and Butler were arrested and arraigned that day. They each face preliminary hearing on November 1.