KEY POINTS:
Two "dubious-looking characters" posing as executives from a retailers lobby group defrauded members' stores of $3000 worth of goods before splashing out at a pub and finishing their spending spree in a brothel.
The pair snatched a Newmarket Business Association credit card and visited eight of the association's member stores.
Association general manager Cameron Brewer said he believed the thieves stole the card and his private credit card from his wallet inside a bag about last Thursday.
They scratched off Mr Brewer's signature and replaced it with the initials "CB" in "child-like handwriting" before spending $3000 in 20 transactions over 10 hours.
"You might be able to recognise them; they'll be the best-dressed crims in Auckland," Mr Brewer said.
"They went to a number of apparel shops on and around Broadway and bought clothes, bought sneakers, sports shoes.
"They went to brothels too ... They've had a field day, haven't they? It's taken me quite a bit of explanation to my treasurer."
The pair were caught out when an electronics store owner realised it was not Mr Brewer using the association's card to buy an iPod.
When the retailer asked for photo identification the pair left, saying they would return.
Instead they used the credit card to fill up at a petrol station, drink in a nearby pub and finally to visit a brothel.
Mr Brewer said he was not angry at retail staff, saying the fraud highlighted how common the use of credit cards was and how relaxed the retail industry had become about them.
"I don't think they [staff] even for a second realised it was a Newmarket Business Association credit card. It was just another credit card on another busy day."
But Mr Brewer believes secure pin numbers should be mandatory on all credit cards, noting that the thieves left his Eftpos cards in his discarded wallet because they were useless without the pin numbers.
Pin numbers are optional on credit cards but can be overridden at any time with signature approval, a necessary leniency to enable a card's international use.
Constable Jared Thompson of Mt Wellington said police had a strong lead on the fraudsters.
It was unclear whether two or three people were involved but police believed they knew who they were.
Police were going through the long process of amassing video footage from the stores the fraudsters visited and obtaining the receipts they had signed to check for fingerprints.
