LOS ANGELES
Authorities on Wednesday arrested four defendants charged with federal fraud and identity theft charges for allegedly participating in a scheme that installed credit card “skimmers” inside gas pumps at gas stations across Southern California and Southern Nevada, officials announced.
A criminal complaint charges eight defendants – three of whom are fugitives at this time – with participating in a conspiracy that secretly installed electronic devices known as skimmers inside of gas pumps that were equipped with point of sale terminals, officials allege
When gas station customers swiped their credit or debit cards through the device that reads the magnetic strips on the back of their cards, the information was stored on the skimmers that were hidden inside the gas pumps, according to authorities.
The defendants are facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges, authorities said.
The affidavit supporting the criminal complaint, authorities allege the following:
Members of the conspiracy were able to later retrieve the account information without going back inside the gas pumps by using Bluetooth-equipped devices, such as cellular phones or tablets.
At the gas stations, they allegedly used large vans to conceal their activities as they forced open panels on the gas pumps and installed the skimming devices that were not visible to customers who used their credit cards at the pumps, officials allege.
The affidavit outlines how the organization installed dozens of skimmers at gas stations operated by different companies in areas that include San Gabriel, Burbank, North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Eagle Rock, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Torrance, Long Beach, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Tustin, Fountain Valley, the Coachella Valley and Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Identity theft causes significant harm to individuals as well as imposing costs on society overall,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “Members of the public are entitled to use their credit and debit cards at gas stations without fear that their identities could be stolen. The collective consequence of such criminal activity is that thousands of people have had their personal information compromised and now they must undertake substantial efforts to protect their identities.”
In conjunction with Wednesday’ arrests, investigators executed a series of search warrants.
At one location, they found materials indicating that members of the conspiracy were actively involved in the manufacture of counterfeit credit cards.
The eight defendants named in the criminal complaint are:
- Nazar Daniyelyan, 47, of Sun Valley, who was arrested
- Ruben Karapetyan, 39, of Porter Ranch, who was arrested
- Armen Khalulyan, 30, of Los Angeles, who is a fugitive
- Arutyan Oganyan, 41, of North Hollywood, who is a fugitive
- Grigor Pambukyan, 26, of Van Nuys, who was arrested
- Arsen Terzyan, 32, of Van Nuys, who was arrested
- Anthony Tngryan, 26, of Van Nuys, who is a fugitive
- Oganes Tagaryan, 23, of North Hollywood, who is expected to surrender to authorities in the near future.
The eight defendants are charged with conspiracy to possess 15 or more unauthorized access devices.
The investigation into the credit card skimming ring is ongoing. At this point, authorities have no estimate for the loss that may be associated with the stolen credit card information.
The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.