Strathpine shopping frenzy with cafe-goer’s forgotten credit card

A man has been sentenced to prison after he managed to hit up five stores in less than an hour using someone else’s credit card.

Residents are cautioned to keep an eye on their credit cards after a north Brisbane man racked up over a hundred dollars on fuel, clothing and phone credit on a forgotten card found at a Murrumba Downs cafe.

The Pine Rivers Magistrates court heard Dylan Luke Richard Palmer, 30, chanced upon the Commonwealth Bank card during a walk past Pine Espresso at around 8.55am on October 8.

Palmer, who was with a friend at the time, told her he’d dropped his card earlier that morning and asked her to pick it up from the cafe chair for him.

Palmer took the card and used paywave to make several purchases across Brisbane, beginning with $12.60 at the nearby IGA.

He then used it to purchase $69 of fuel at the Puma service station, $30 worth of Optus phone credit online and $74 worth of clothing at the Rebel Sport in Strathpine.

It was at this time the owner of the card was alerted to a series of suspicious transactions which led her to freeze her account.

Unaware of the change, Palmer took the card to the Cash Converters in Strathpine in the hopes of buying a second-hand, $99 iPhone.

The card was declined at the checkout counter so, figuring the balance was low, Palmer went instead to buy a sandwich from Subway.

This was also declined.

Police were able to use CCTV footage from various locations to identify the man, who later admitted to using the card fraudulently for his own benefit.

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Undeterred by the police encounter, Palmer entered the Bunnings Warehouse at North Lakes on October 13, shoved a $529 nail gun down his pants and walked out without paying.

His lawyer Andrew Ferrett told the court that the Bunnings staff “had been looking at him as if he was a thief, so he thought he would oblige them”.

“It was silly,” he said.

Palmer pleaded guilty to two counts of stealing and seven counts of fraud.

He was given a four month suspended prison sentence, with no order for restitution.

A conviction was recorded.