Post Office Takes Up Card Theft Case

Private detectives investigating credit card thefts at Harvard said yesterday they will give evidence to federal authorities this week which may lead to several indictments for fraud.

Edward A. Gianetti, an investigator for Cambridge-based First Data Resources, said the detectives had identified two different groups using credit cards stolen on campus and would turn their evidence over to U.S. postal inspectors on Friday.

He said cards stolen last year at Harvard had been used by a local group to charge merchandise, and that they were somehow transferred to a ring based in Lawrence, N.H., which used the cards to purchase airline tickets.

Between April and September, there were 20 credit card thefts at Blodgett Pool, Harvard Police Captain Jack W. Morse said last month. Earlier estimates put the value of goods charged on the stolen cards at $50,000, but Gianetti said yesterday he thought the total was closer to $70,000.

Only state or federal agencies can present evidence to a U.S. Attorney, who can use it is seek indictments from a grand jury. "The Boston Postal Inspector's office is involved in the case because fraudulently obtained goods have been shipped through the mails, Gianetti said.

Paul F. Healy, deputy chief of the Boston U.S. Attorney's criminal division, said yesterday that his office evaluates each case brought to it separately. About 95 percent of those which federal or state agencies thought had merit went to a grand jury, he added.

Postal Inspector James Degnan said yesterday he had just started work on the case and that it might be a matter of months before he had gone through all the evidence thoroughly enough to be able to approach the U.S. Attorney. "There is a lot of work to be done," he explained.

All of the fraudulent credit cards transactions must be investigated individually and the receipts from each would be subjected to lab analysis, which could include dusting for fingerprints and handwriting analysis, Degnan said.

Gianetti said the card thefts appeared to be highly organized. He said exactly now the cards are transferred from the people stealing them to the New Hampshire group is not yet clear, but that there are definite suspects in each phase of the investigation.

In the airline ticket ring, which is understood better, there are two definite suspects who seemed to be using stolen credit cards to purchase plane tickets specifically for individuals, Gianetti said. "They've built up quite a clientele," he said.

Gianetti and two other investigators at First Data Resources have been working on the case since the summer. Their firm has contracts with area banks and the national credit cards MasterCard and Visa, Richard A. D'Amico, chief investigator on the case, said last month.

They investigate all fraudulent use of lost or stolen cards in New England and New York.

Nationally, credit card fraud may approach $1 billion annually, according to industry sources. A spokesman for the American Bankers Association said last month MasterCard and Visa, the two largest national credit cards, were projecting total losses due to fraud of $200 million for 1983.