Seven are indicted in skimming case
Miami-area residents accused of scheme at upstate gas pumps
A federal grand jury in Albany indicted seven Miami-area residents for an alleged scheme in which they used skimming devices to steal and use credit and debit card numbers from “pay at the pump” gas station customers in Albany, Montgomery and Broome counties.
Participants in the reputed scam conspired to build and install the devices between April 2016 and December 2018, according to U.S. attorney Grant Jaquith’s office. It announced the indictments Wednesday with the FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
The indictment said the defendants used data stolen from customers to create phony credit and debit cards, which they used to obtain money orders, gift cards, cash and other merchandise.
The indictment said five defendants “conspired to engage in financial transactions with money orders and gift cards obtained through the scheme that were designed to conceal the source of the stolen funds, and obtain cash or transfer the value of the gift cards, using gift card exchange websites, to bank accounts controlled by the members of the conspiracy.”
The indictment said the defendants used their vehicles to shield themselves and the gas pumps when they installed the skimmers. They are accused of going into the stores connected to the gas pumps to distract employees while others installed the skimmers or harvested the data.
Materials used to make the skimming devices included 23 circuit boards, shrink tubing, a bag of cable connectors and a ribbon and cable set, “all of the type found in all of the skimmers removed from gas pumps by law,” the indictment said. Also found was a soldering iron, a bottle of liquid solder f lux, a pack of glue sticks, a tube of soluble f lux, a circuit tester, electrical solder, and a clamp set. Two skimmers were equipped with SIM cards, it said.
Joan Jesus Manso Dieguez, 33, of Miami; and Hugo Hernandez, 32, of Miami Lakes, were arrested in Miami and charged with conspiracy to commit access device fraud and money laundering. Atnetys Ferreira, 40, of Miami, was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Also named in the indictment but not yet arrested were Jorge Louis Conill; Lodmar Elias Crespo; Jemnis Hernandez Gonzalez and Yandy Luis Hernandez Gonzalez. Assistant U.S. attorneys Rick Belliss and Emily C. Powers are prosecuting the case.