{"id":8712471,"date":"2023-01-11T10:15:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T18:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8712471&preview=true&preview_id=8712471"},"modified":"2023-01-11T10:29:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T18:29:54","slug":"la-man-receives-3-1-2-years-in-prison-for-619000-skimming-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/11\/la-man-receives-3-1-2-years-in-prison-for-619000-skimming-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Man receives 3\u00bd years in prison for $619,000 California gas pump skimming scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Los Angeles man has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for his role in building specialized skimming devices to steal at least $619,923 from an untold number of unwitting victims at gas pumps throughout Southern California.<\/p>\n

Robert Fichidzhyan, 40, admitted in a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego that he built \u201cskimmers\u201d \u2014 customized electronic devices that his accomplices secretly installed at dozens of gas stations to steal credit and debit card information.<\/p>\n

In addition to the prison term handed down Monday, Jan. 9, Fichidzhyan was ordered to forfeit $249,890, which is the amount he personally received from the scheme, and participate with seven co-defendants, who primarily reside in Granada Hills, Glendale and North Hollywood, in paying an additional $619,923 in restitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdentity thieves should not assume they are safe committing electronic larceny,\u201d U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman said in a statement. \u201cAnyone who victimizes the public in our jurisdiction will be brought to justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agents with the U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service assisted federal prosecutors in the investigation.<\/p>\n

A federal grand jury returned a six-count indictment in September 2021 against the defendants, alleging access fraud conspiracy and various counts of aggravated identity theft. Fichidzhyan pleaded guilty to conspiring to use unauthorized access devices and possess device-making equipment.<\/p>\n

Fichidzhyan is a prolific scammer, with credit card fraud and identity theft-related convictions dating back to 2002, when he was 19, according to prosecutors. In 2010 he and another individual were convicted in Utah of skimming victims\u2019 financial information at gas pumps, collecting 4,052 stolen credit card numbers in 11 days, a sentencing memorandum says.<\/p>\n

Fichidzhyan\u2019s role in the Southern California scheme was to build skimming devices used extensively by his alleged co-conspirators.<\/p>\n

Typically, fraudsters insert a skimming device inside an ATM or a gas pump to steal transaction data used by customers to complete bank withdrawals or gas purchases. The skimming device stores the stolen data until it is retrieved by the skimmer or an associate.<\/p>\n

After retrieving the stolen data, a fraudster can encode a new unauthorized card bearing the victim\u2019s real information, including the account and PIN number, and use it to make purchases or withdraw cash.<\/p>\n

Fichidzhyan\u2019s fingerprints showed up on skimming devices recovered during the investigation and were linked to his alleged co-conspirators, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Electronics supplier records show that Fichidzhyan ordered at least 14 separate shipments of the kinds of components used to build skimmers from July 2016 to July 2018 at his former residence and then transitioned to using straw recipients or addresses to receive supplies. Additionally, telephone records show that Fichidzhyan was in regular contact with the co-defendants who installed the skimming devices, suggesting that he actively provided technical support for his products, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Federal agents began observing the alleged co-conspirators intensively installing and downloading from skimming devices at gas stations across Southern California in September 2019. Fingerprints belonging to two of the defendants were found on some of the skimmers seized by law enforcement, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Other fingerprints and DNA recovered on the skimmers led agents to those involved in building the devices, including Fichidzhyan. Specifically, they found Fichidzhyan\u2019s fingerprints on a skimming device recovered from a gas station in South Gate in September 2019 and his DNA on a device at another station in National City in July 2020, court records state.<\/p>\n