If you aren’t familiar with the term “skimming”, it refers to the criminal act of “skimming” information from a credit card, usually for later personal use. It is surprisingly easy to accomplish by using a skimming device, which is attached to an ATM or gas station pumps, and puts all of your credit card information directly into the hands of strangers. Strangers who are likely to run up thousands of dollars worth of charges on your credit card.
But, easy and lucrative as it may seem, skimming is illegal. Which is why a group of ten Cuban residents are now facing federal charges here in Michigan. According to the three count indictment that names the ten suspects, they are accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and access-device fraud.
Court documents reveal that the scam run by this particular group ran from July until September of this year, when they were arrested. According to the FBI, five members of the group were living in the Miami area at the time of their arrest. The other five were in Texas.
But during the three month period in which they “skimmed” credit cards in Michigan, they had a temporary residence at the Comfort Inn Suites in Grandville. An eleventh person arrested with the group was underage at the time, and therefore could not be prosecuted on a federal level. Instead, she will be charged by the state.
According to the police who conducted the arrests, a search of one of the group’s hotel rooms turned up a number of keys to gas pumps, along with a laptop, a skimming device and several credit cards. Together with these items were a whole collection of gift cards and re-encoded cards.
An additional 30 gift cards were discovered
Police say that the group was using the credit cards to purchase thousands of dollars worth of prepaid debit cards at a Meijer in Holland, Michigan. Later, after police had removed all of the items from the rooms and the group had been arrested and taken to jail, hotel workers made a surprising discovery. An additional 30 gift cards were discovered inside the mattresses in the hotel room, which were turned over to the police.
The investigation that culminated in these arrests was lead by the Metropolitan Fraud and Identity Theft Team of Kent County, and included the Grand Rapids Police, Michigan State Police, and the FBI. The suspects have been awaiting trial in the Kent County Circuit Court. However, in the wake of the federal indictment, their cases will be moved to the federal court.