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March Madness visitor becomes victim of theft, credit card fraud

Tara Zaloudek began receiving text alerts from her credit card companies last weekend. That's when she noticed her purse had been stolen.

INDIANAPOLIS — A fan from Oklahoma says she was robbed in plain sight while in Indianapolis for March Madness.

“I’ve been an Oklahoma State fan my whole life,” said Tara Zaloudek. 

That’s why the 40-year-old from Oklahoma City thought nothing of flying to Indy last weekend to watch her favorite team play in the NCAA Tournament. 

Zaloudek never expected, though, she’d be the one who got played in a downtown bar as she sat at a table watching Saturday’s basketball games on television. 

“At 6:18, I got the first text message on my phone that there was a fraud alert,” Zaloudek said. 

Five minutes later, she got another message. 

“From my American Express, from the same location. That’s when I knew something bad was happening,” she added. 

Then, she got a third text about possible fraud on another credit card. 

“I reached around to grab my purse, and I realized it wasn’t there,” said Zaloudek. 

She asked the bar manager to check surveillance footage, video Zaloudek later shared with 13News. In it, you can see a man and woman near Zaloudek’s table. 

“He had his hands hidden. It was hard to see. You can’t see him grab it, but you can see that my purse is there and then all of a sudden, it’s in her hands,” she said.

“You can clearly see her carrying my purse out with her orange purse,” Zaloudek said, adding the same orange purse shows up again in video taken later in the day at a local store. Zaloudek got a copy of that footage, too.

In the second video, you can see people checking out, buying, among other things, close to $6,000 worth of gift cards. 

“Because I had the exact amount that they had tried to spend on my cards, they were able to pinpoint exactly what time to start looking for these people,” said Zaloudek. 

She reported what happened to police but hasn’t heard back. 

“I think the most disappointing part is the lack of follow-up from anybody. I’ve had to do all the work to get this going at all,” she said. 

Zaloudek is also sad that OSU didn’t make it to the Sweet 16. She can’t do anything about that but wants to warn other basketball fans to be aware of their surroundings so they don’t end up in her shoes. 

“I wasn’t being the most aware, but I wasn’t being completely careless either, and it still happened,” Zaloudek said.

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