Bankcard Empire Owner Indicted

Phoenix, Arizona Leslie Spencer Mersky, 64, of Scottsdale, has been indicted on charges of fraudulent schemes and artifices, forgery, theft and aggravated identity theft. Mersky is the owner of Bankcard Empire of Phoenix, which sold business opportunity packages that often required large upfront fees over the Internet. Mersky is accused of making fraudulent charges to the credit card accounts of purchasers of Bankcard Empires work-at-home business opportunities sold over the Internet. Bankcard Empire has long been the subject of many consumer complaints about its business practices. The indictment alleges that at Merskys direction, employees of Bankcard Empire would cut and paste the signatures of purchasers of Bankcards products into unauthorized credit card payment authorizations. Bankcard Empire was the target of a search warrant executed two months ago. The U.S. Postal Service, Tempe Police, Phoenix Police, the Arizona Corporation Commission and the Arizona Attorney Generals Office were involved in the investigation.