8 pleaded guilty in Clyde's, M&S Grill and 701 credit card scam

The cardholders discovered unknown charges on their credit cards after they had eaten at well-known Washington restaurants. The investigation began last year when Citigroup contacted the Secret Service after calls from customers. Agents tracked the fraudulent transactions back to the restaurants. 

As it was revealed, some servers at those restaurants - Clyde's, M&S Grill and 701 - used hand-held skimming devices that looked like little black boxes to swipe customer credit cards in such a way stealing credit card numbers. After that those card numbers were given to 3 men, who used them to purchase different things to the total sum of $736,393.

According to federal prosecutors in Alexandria eight people have pleaded guilty. More than 50 financial institutions were affected. As officials said, banks absorbed all the losses after realizing that it was a scam. Among those who pleaded guilty are 3 former servers at M&S Grill, one from Clyde's Restaurant and one from 701 Restaurant. According to court documents 3 Maryland men originated the scam. One of them paid the servers $20 for each stolen number.

Spokesmen for Clyde's and 701 Restaurant said that they cooperated with federal authorities in order to protect credit cards of their customers. "We've had no other problems with credit cards of any kind,'' said Claude Andersen, corporate operations manager for the 13 Clyde's restaurants in the Washington region. 

Five of the servers are scheduled to be sentenced during the next two months; remaining three servers are scheduled to be sentenced over the next 2 1/2 months.