NASHUA – Police confiscated hundreds of phony credit and gift cards this week and arrested three people who they said are professional scammers profiting from information often stolen using credit card skimming machines.

Police said the trio – Jovon Williams, 24, and Queron Foreman, 22, both of Oakland, Calif., and Brittany Allen, 28, of East Orange, N.J. – were involved in a card cloning scheme discovered through an investigation that began at the Pheasant Lane Mall on Monday night.

Nashua police were called to the mall by security around 7:30 p.m. for a report of suspicious credit card activity. Police said a clerk at a mall business reported a man and a woman attempting to purchase a gift card using two credit cards.

Court documents state that a store manager at The Children’s Place reported an outburst by the woman that occurred when she tried to purchase a $295 gift card. The woman left the store and was later seen making a gift card purchase at Kids Foot Locker.

The Children’s Place manager reported to security that a male described as wearing "all red-and-blue boxer shorts" purchased a gift card for $295 using two credit cards. She confirmed that his identification matched the card information, and the name was "Quinton or something like that," according to court documents.

The couple then left and got into a 2016 Dodge Caravan with North Carolina license plates outside the mall.

Nashua police Lt. Craig Allard said Wednesday that the department’s fraud detective was nearby at the time on a separate investigation and was sent to assist, along with patrol officers.

The van left the mall parking lot, and police stopped the vehicle at a nearby Cumberland Farms, where police spoke with the driver, Williams, and the passenger, Allen. Queron Foreman, 22, then approached the car as police were making their initial inquiry.

During the traffic stop, the detective noticed a yellow shopping bag on the seat behind the driver. The bag was open and contained numerous credit cards, according to court records.

During a later search of the vehicle, police said, they found more than 250 counterfeit credit and debit cards and 20 gift cards, along with receipts from North Carolina.

Nashua and Tewksbury, Mass., police searched the group’s motel room at the Tewksbury Residence Inn and found a laptop computer, a card coder/reader, and a box of blank credit and gift cards, police said.

When Nashua police called California police agencies to confirm identidies, they learned that San Jose police had a report dated Aug. 24 in which Williams was found to be in possession of hundreds of magnetic cards, a card embosser, a magnetic strip reader/writer encoder and three laptops. Williams was arrested and charged with faudulent possession/use of a card reader and fraudulent possession/use of a scan device.

Allard characterized the group’s activities as professional.

"It appears that way with the amount recovered. We’re working with other agencies to determine if they are part of another crew," he said.

Allard said that this activity is the "back half" of the commonly known skimming activity that steals personal data from things such as gas station card readers. Thieves download the stolen information and dump the information on the new cards.

Hudson police have found skimmers on gas pumps recently and had made arrests, Allard said, but he added, "We haven’t located any in Nashua yet."

The blank cards and associated machines are produced for legitimate purposes, Allard said, for such things as hotel room keys.

"Like anything, they can be used for illegitimate purposes," he said. "These people have access to embossing machines and encoding devices that make passkeys and things like that."

On the surface, he said, the fraudulent cards may look legitimate, but on close examination, certain elements appear fake. Also, the identity associated with the issuer of a card may not match the card being presented to the retailer.

Many retailers train associates to be aware of people coming in to purchase high-value gift cards, Allard said, and "that can be an indicator of possible fraudulent activity."

Police are working to identify the identities of actual cardholders on each of the cloned cards, which involves securing a search warrant for each card.

Williams, 24, was charged with conspiracy to commit illegal use of payment card-scanning device or re-encoder, a Class B felony; criminal liability for conduct of another and theft by deception, a Class A misdemeanor; and driving after suspension, a violation.

Allen, 28, was charged with conspiracy to commit illegal use of payment card-scanning device or re-encoder, a Class B felony; theft by deception, a Class A misdemeanor; and eight counts of forgery, a Class B misdemeanor.

Foreman, 22, was charged with conspiracy to commit illegal use of payment card-scanning device or re-encoder, a Class B felony, theft by deception, a Class A misdemeanor; and 20 counts of forgery, a Class B misdemeanor.

Class B felonies are punishable by up to seven years in prison, plus fines. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail, plus fines, and each Class B misdemeanor is punishable by up to a $1,200 fine, with no imprisonment.

Foreman, Allen and Williams all appeared at arraignment on Tuesday at Nashua district court and were each held on $100,000 cash-only bail.

Police are asking that anyone with more information with regard to this investigation call the Nashua Police Department’s Crime Line at 589-1665.

Don Himsel can be reached at 594-6590, dhimsel@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_DonH.