Harford County nail salon worker charged with skimming customers' credit cards

FOREST HILL, Md. - Pretty in pink, Lisa Kirk shows off her manicure as she steps outside Classy Nails in the Rock Spring Shopping Center in Forest Hill.

"12 bucks,” said Kirk, holding up both hands for us to see the new polish, “12 dollars… plus a tip. Not bad."

His customers knew him as “Tony”, the nail tech, but now Tri Cao Tran faces charges he skimmed clients’ magnetic information off of their credit and debit cards to fund shopping sprees at stores like Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, and even to pay for his Starbucks.

"Through the confession, he has alluded to us that there could be as many as a hundred victims in this case," said Monica Worrell of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.

For now, investigators have only tied Tran to three victims, but once his other customers begin checking over their credit card bills, they anticipate a flood of cases, on average, totaling as much as $1,000 apiece.

"I think I would know if it was a thousand dollars that was missing from an account, but I will check my statements," said Brooke Evans of Bel Air.

"It makes me think twice now about even using a debit card," added Kirk.

Investigators say they traced the skimming thefts to Tran after they showed a victim surveillance pictures of the suspect making credit purchases, and she identified him as the man who does her nails.

Even though Tran already faces 22 charges, including fraud, theft and identity theft, he only spent a few hours in police custody before posting 10-thousand dollars bail.