MASSACHUSETTS: – A California businessman plead guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to hack into the computerized cash registers of a number of Subway restaurants to fraudulently obtain more than $40,000 in gift cards, federal officials said.
Shahin Abdollahi, aka Sean Holdt, 46, of Lake Elsinore, California, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and wire fraud and one count of wire fraud.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 6.
Abdollahi, along with his co-conspirator, Jeffrey Wilkinson, 37, of Rialto, California, was indicted on March 6, 2013.
Wilkinson pleaded guilty on Feb. 27, 2014, and is scheduled for sentencing on May 28.
The evidence indicated that Abdollahi owned Subway franchises in Southern California from 2005 to 2008 and later operated a California company called “POS Doctor,” which sold point-of-sale computer systems to Subway restaurant franchises around the country, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors stated that point-of-sale systems are a type of computerized checkout register that allows merchants to manage customer purchases made by credit, debit and gift cards.
Beginning around 2011, Abdollahi and Wilkinson conspired to remotely hack into the systems in Subway restaurant franchises around the country, officials claim.
Defendants of the conspiracy hacked into at least 13 Subway systems that Abdollahi sold through POS Doctor and fraudulently added at least $40,000 in value to Subway gift cards, officials said.
Abdollahi and Wilkinson used the fraudulent gift cards to make purchases at Subway, and Wilkinson also sold fraudulent gift cards to others using eBay and Craigslist.