An Oklahoma couple landed themselves in hot water when they used ill gotten credit card information to purchase a bird and pet care accessories from Birds, Etc. in the Oklahoma town of The Village. In all, Derrick and Mishia Clark rang up a bill of more than $1000 in their pursuit of procuring a pet bird. As reported by Oklahoma City’s KOCO Channel 5 News, the Clark’s were charged on Friday, August 14 with obtaining property under false pretenses.

When it was first believed the purchase was, indeed, fraudulent, the local police tracked the credit card information to its owner who claimed they had no knowledge of, nor had they granted permission for the purchase of the bird and assorted accessories. What may be the most surprising thing about this story is that who the owner of the card is just proves that no one is immune from having credit card fraud perpetrated against them. 

The fraudulent credit card information, it turns out, was traced back to the state of Pennsylvania, to an employee in the office of the state’s Attorney General. Red flags went up for both the issuing bank and authorities when the Clark’s used an address in the town of Blanchard, Oklahoma during the transaction.

While major efforts to fight credit card fraud are regularly being advanced, it takes vigilance from each party involved in credit card transactions to identify and mitigate fraudulent purchases. Retailers are encouraged to keep an eye out for transactions that just don’t feel right. If you find you are presented with a situation that seems suspect, take just a few moments to verify that the person presenting credit card information to you is exactly who they say they are.