>> kind of like throwing tuna to the sharks. and we'll see what happens. >> all right. let's do it. >> reporter: we test the waters as clements, pretending to be a thief, offers to sell some of our bait cards. >> i'm going to hit the stopwatch, and we're going to see how long it takes before somebody hits on it. >> reporter: the response is almost instantaneous. >> somebody saying, "hey, bro." >> 12 seconds. >> reporter: at first the thieves appear to be feeling us out to see if we're for real. >> we have another one. nitro 81 just said "howdy." >> 26 seconds. >> reporter: but it doesn't take long for the thieves to take the bait and start making purchases with our cards. >> they're hitting it. >> reporter: at the credit card monitoring center, the fraudulent charges are beginning to roll in. at first, they're small charges to make sure the card works. >> they checked it for a dollar. >> reporter: for a dollar? they're just probing to see if it will work? >> right. >> reporter: they even make a small donation to the red cross to test the card. >> $11.