Puyallup credit-card skimming scam compromised 900+ cards, drained accounts
The alleged fraudsters are suspected to have targeted 7-Eleven convenience stores with devices known as credit-card skimmers, then used the data to make withdrawals at ATMS in March and April, according to charging documents filed Thursday in Pierce County Superior Court.
One victim lost $15,500 over a month and another had $12,800 stolen. Documents don't describe where the skimming devices were placed.
Prosecutors have charged a 53-year-old man and a 39-year-old man each with two counts of first-degree identity theft and two counts of first-degree theft.
Puyallup police arrested the older man Tuesday while he was shopping on Meridian after detectives found he was associated with a vehicle identified in a separate credit-card skimming investigation. He was located with the help of the city's FLOCK license-plate readers.
A plea of not guilty to the charges was entered on his behalf at arraignment Thursday. Court Commissioner Barbara McInvaille ordered him held at Pierce County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
That defendant's criminal history includes convictions in Romania and Hungary. According to the probable cause document, he was fined for complicity to counterfeit documents in 2004 in Hungary, was convicted of fraud in 2006 in Romania and was convicted for smuggling migrants in 2010 in Romania.
The younger man has not yet been arrested, according to court records. He was reportedly encountered by Canadian law enforcement in October while with a 'known smuggler' attempting to enter the United States illegally.
Detectives began investigating the case in March when they were contacted by a fraud investigator from BECU, according to the probable cause document. The investigator's team was compiling surveillance footage of suspects completing ATM withdrawals with cards believed to have been compromised at area 7-Eleven locations.
Images of the suspects were sent to a nationwide email distribution list that specializes in those types of investigations. Detectives were contacted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection about the suspects.
The U.S. Secret Service also reportedly contacted detectives about the older suspect more recently using a different last name. This helped police connect him to a separate fraud investigation in Puyallup where officers found he was renting a black Nissan Rogue. Officers placed an alert for the vehicle on the city's FLOCK database, and a camera captured the vehicle Tuesday traveling on Meridian.
Credit-card skimmers can be found at fuel pumps, ATMs and other point-of-sale terminals, according to the FBI. Some are installed within the terminal, and others fit over the card reader. In some cases, customers' PIN numbers are recorded through pinhole cameras or keylogging keypad overlays.
The devices store customer information to be downloaded or wirelessly transferred later. The data is then used to create fake payment cards to make unauthorized purchases or steal from an account.
When the older suspect was arrested, police searched his vehicle and found a visa gift card. A police officer wrote in a report that these types of cards with magnetic strips can easily be programmed.
According to the probable cause document, the man asked police during his arrest how they caught him.
'I explained we knew what car he was driving,' a police officer wrote in a report. 'He again inquired, 'How?' I replied, 'Police work.' He seemed impressed and said, 'Good work …''
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