Four arrests linked to gas station skimming scheme in Capital Region

04.08.2020 23:54

News10.com

Four arrests linked to gas station skimming scheme in Capital Region

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Four Floridians were arrested in Florida and Pennsylvania on Tuesday in connection to a nationwide scheme to steal credit and debit card numbers of gas station customers across the country—including in Albany, Broome, and Montgomery Counties.

According to the indictment, some of the individuals are charged with building skimming devices and installing them at gas pumps from April 2016 through around December 2018. The devices would steal the payment card information when customers paid at the pump.

Others involved allegedly used the money orders and gift cards to conceal the source of the funds—known as money laundering—and transfer to accounts controlled by co-conspirators.

The four defendants arrested today, and their charges, are:

Yudiel Ceballos, 33, of Miami: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud
Arley Gonzalez, 34, of Miami: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud
Yuny Hurtado Rodriguez, 33, of Miami: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud
Marlon Palacios, 36, of Miami and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Conspiracy to commit money laundering and aggravated identity theft

Investigators had already arrested three other individuals from Miami last fall, when the initial indictment in the access device fraud and money laundering scheme case was unsealed. Their names and charges are:

Atnetys Ferreira, 40, of Miami: Conspiracy to commit money laundering
Joan Jesus Manso Dieguez, 33, of Miami: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud and money laundering
Hugo Hernandez, 32, of Miami Lakes, Florida: Conspiracy to commit access device fraud and money laundering

This case is being investigated by the FBI in Albany, Miami, and Pittsburgh, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Field Office in Boston and Miami, and the Secret Service in Miami.