U.S. courts sent three men behind bars for installing skimming devices on ATMs and gas pump pay machines to steal financial information from the credit and debit cards of unsuspecting victims.
Investigators found that the suspects used skimming devices to steal financial information from Americans across the country. Skimming devices are a common form of credit card fraud. According to the FBI, it creates an economic loss of over $1 billion annually. (Photo: Giovanni Gagliardi, Unsplash, License)Davit Simonyan, 30, his brother Vahram Simonyan, 34, and Arsen Galstyan, 34, along with four others orchestrated the nation-wide credit card fraud scheme. After stealing the data, they completed a host of unauthorized transactions including money order purchases and large cash withdrawals from victims’ bank accounts, according to the Southern District of California Attorney’s Office.
Skimming devices are illegal scanners installed on ATMs, point of sale terminals, or gas pumps to capture data and record the Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) of cardholders. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the use of skimming devices creates an economic loss of over US$1 billion annually.
“This was a huge criminal enterprise, nationwide,” said U.S. District Judge Michael M. Anello.
The investigation found that the men generated an estimated $1 million in ill-gotten gains from the scam. Its victims were located across the country, from New York, to Oklahoma,…
