MARGATE, Fla. – Another case of shapewear shopping left a family-owned Broward business in the middle of a police investigation.
Santiago Ospina, said, once again, his family’s store took a hit. Hundreds of dollars’ worth of fajas and clothing were taken in what they believe was an elaborate scam.
“She tried a lot of products,” said Ospina. “She tried fajas, she tried sportswear, she tried jeans — everything.”
Margate police returned to the Fajas Colombianas Forestal store, off West Sample Road and need to talk to the woman seen on video.
Ospina said he was working at the store with his girlfriend on May 19th.
He said a woman called asking to pay for pricey products in advance for pickup.
Knowing he couldn’t take payments by phone, he agreed to wait for the woman an hour after closing.
He and his girlfriend spent over an hour helping her get into and out of shapewear products and providing post-surgery assistance.
The woman said she had just undergone a cosmetic procedure.
The couple even gave her discounts as she finally walked to the register to pay for several items.
“The first time she tried to pay, she tried to pay with ApplePay. It didn’t work out,” recalled Ospina. “She entered her card manually and we gave her privacy because I don’t want to see her card.”
After making that first purchase of over $200, the woman spotted other items she liked on her way out of the store.
Ospina said the culprit made three different transactions at the store and manually entered three different card numbers each time while at the register.
In the end, they were looking at more than $760 worth of sales.
Police said all three transactions were disputed and reported days later.
“We started to try and call her and see if we can fix this,” Ospina said.
Local 10 News Reporter Andrew Perez also called, but the number is disconnected.
The family remains frustrated because these fajas have been targeted several times, either by scammers, or shoplifters who have gone out of their way to take the luxury goods in bulk as seen on Local 10 News.
Anyone with information on the woman in this latest video is urged to call the Margate Police Department at 954-972-7111.