(Washington, D.C.) From the streets of Boston to the bayous of Louisiana, the U.S. Secret Service is continuing the fight against bank card access device fraud, also known as Skimming.
This week, District of Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling, announced the sentencing of Helisson Benazi de Souza, 38, for his role in an ATM skimming operation in which he stole the debit card information and personal identification numbers (PINs) of legitimate bank account holders when they used their debit cards at ATMs.
Also this week, Eastern District of Louisiana U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that Andre Lion Goncalves Pereira, 29, pleaded guilty for his role in an identity theft and credit card skimming scheme. Pereira and three other Brazilian nationals were arrested by the Secret Service Louisiana Financial Crimes Task Force at a hotel in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans last fall. Pereira and his criminal counterparts were found in possession of re-encoded credit cards that contained stolen debit card information, embossers, encoders, ATM skimmers, false identification, and other related contraband.
The Secret Service-led investigation resulted in an additional arrest in Oklahoma City of a co-conspirator who had been mailing skimmers, pinhole cameras, and other tools for credit card fraud in furtherance of the New Orleans-based fraud operation.
"These Skimming cases represent the expansive nature of cyber-enable financial crimes," said Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Investigations Michael DAmbrosio. "These criminal enterprises have proven they intend to push their illegal schemes to every corner of our nation and we are proving that the Secret Service will pursue them wherever they go to ensure the security and safety of our financial infrastructure."
Skimmers are designed to covertly steal payment card information from unknowing victims when they make purchases with their bank issued ATM or credit card. The stolen information is then used by criminal organizations to create cloned or counterfeit payment cards to withdraw money from ATMs, purchase money orders or pre-paid debit cards, and make retail store purchases.
In Boston, Benazi de Souza used cloned cards, and the corresponding PINs, to withdraw thousands of dollars from ATMs in the Metro Boston area last spring. Surveillance video from Boston-area banks show Benazi de Souza installing and removing skimming devices and pinhole cameras at the banks ATMs. He was later found in possession of thousands of dollars in cash and over 200 gift cards and hotel key cards containing small stickers with numbers written on them. Benazi de Souza admitted that the numbers written on the stickers were cardholders bank card PINs.
U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young sentence Benazi de Souza to three years in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered him to pay $105,880 in restitution.
In Louisiana, Pereira faces a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, one year of supervised release, and up to a $250,000.00 fine. U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance scheduled Pereira to be sentenced on September 12. 2018.
For more information regarding bank card fraud and to read more about recent Secret Service successes go to www.SecretService.gov.
Source: U.S. Secret Service