Lourdes University nursing students who recently fell victim to fraud involving their credit or debit cards figured out what may be the best clue for police: They each had made purchases near the end of April at the university cafe.
Justin Mannebach, 30, was one of the student victims of the fraud case that Sylvania police are investigating. Ten people recently reported that their credit or debit cards were used fraudulently on the same day. All the victims are Lourdes students, and several are nursing students. The total amount stolen on their cards was $2,617, according to a police report.
“My friends are in the nursing program, and we tend to spend a lot of time on campus,” he said. “That's why we figured out it was coming from Lourdes. That’s the only thing we had in common purchased on Thursday.”
Mr. Mannebach said the fraudulent charges trace back to April 23 at the Lourdes Cafe. The police report, filed April 30, says someone made cash withdrawals as well as international purchases for airfare, clothing, and other items online.
He said he noticed that his card number had been stolen on April 27.
“I noticed that I had some pending charges that I hadn’t made,” Mr. Mannebach said. “One was to Western Union for $220, a service that I’ve never used before, and the other was $40 and change for a hip-hop jewelry place.”
He has received a provisional credit for the Western Union charge while his bank investigates.
Sylvania police had no one available on Wednesday to discuss the reported theft.
Lourdes University issued a statement saying, in part, “Recently, the credit/debit card information of a small number of Lourdes students was compromised while purchasing items from the Lourdes Cafe. Once the university became aware, the safety department immediately contacted the Sylvania Police.”
The University Cafe uses a third-party provider, AVI Food Systems.
That company’s fraud division also is looking into the matter.
Mr. Mannebach hopes that Lourdes can pinpoint how the information was obtained.
“I don’t know how the card number was stolen, if it was from the machine or they hacked into the network, but obviously there is a security vulnerability there,” he said.
“So I hope they can isolate the exact manner in which they were taken and take steps to stop that.”
Contact Brian Buckey at: bbuckey@theblade.com or 419-376-9414.
First Published May 14, 2015, 4:00 a.m.