WASHINGTON — Customers of Caffe Aficionado in Rosslyn are being told to check their credit card statements after the coffee shop was closed down and the owners were arrested and charged with credit card fraud.
Adiam Berhane and Clark Donat, both 44 years old and from Arlington, were arrested Friday morning. They’re charged with money laundering and two counts of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud.
Police said more charges may be coming.
Berhane and Donat are accused of taking part in a major credit card cloning operation, according to a yearlong investigation involving federal, state and local agencies.
Cloning is when someone steals your credit card information and uses a computer to place it onto a fake, duplicate card.
This kind of fraud can be prevented by using newer credit cards embedded with chips.
“It’s believed that these two individuals have taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars using this credit card scheme,” Ashley Savage with Arlington County Police told WTOP.
Police searched the coffee shop Friday morning.
“We have taken electronics and documents into our possession and will start the process of going through those documents,” Savage said.
It’s not clear yet exactly where the suspects stole credit card information from, but Savage said customers of their shop should check their credit card bills for suspicious charges.
“If it appears that those charges were not made by you, please contact the Arlington County Police Department so that we can investigate,” she said.
The investigation also involved the Secret Service’s fraud task force, D.C. police, Montgomery County police, a division of the National Capital Park Police, Bowie Police and the Virginia Attorney General’s Office.
