NoVA Skimming Device Scheme Leads To Guilty Plea

A seventh man involved in a massive Northern Virginia skimming device scheme has pleaded guilty in federal court.

Timurbek Khasanov, 38, of Philadelphia, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and wire fraud, each of which could carry a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. His aggravated identity theft charge could carry at least two years of prison time. He will be sentenced on Sept. 6. Six others have been sentenced to prison.

The skimming devices hidden in gas pump payment systems resulted in the theft of thousands of credit and debit cards, according to prosecutors. The devices collected card owners' information when they swiped their cards at the impacted gas pumps. The stolen card numbers were then encoded onto physical payment cards and used throughout Northern Virginia, DC and Maryland to make fraudulent ATM withdrawals and U.S. Postal Service money order purchases.

The scheme caused nearly $500,000 in losses and $3.5 million in intended losses to financial institutions and the U.S. Postal Service. Between May and August 2017, Khasanov alone used cards to fraudulently withdraw $5,100 from ATMs and to purchase at least $6,200 in U.S. Postal Service money orders.

According to court documents, the individuals attempted to withdraw money at these Virginia and DC locations:

• BB&T ATM, 5200 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC: June 17, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 12220 Fairfax Town Center, Fairfax: July 8 and 10, Aug. 8, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 4117 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, July 10, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 5203 Franconia Road, Alexandria: July 31, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 11230 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax: Aug. 8, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 13360 Franklin Fars, Herndon: Aug. 8, 2017
• BB&T ATM, 8385 Leesburg Pike A, Vienna: Aug. 23, 2017

Locations of fraudulently-obtained money orders included:

• U.S. Post Office, 3401 12th Street NE, Washington, DC: Aug. 7, 2017
• U.S. Post Office, 6481 Elm Street, McLean: Aug. 7, 2017
• U.S. Post Office, 2211 Rhode Island Avenue NE, Washington, DC: Aug. 7, 2017

The six others sentenced in the scheme are:

• Rudolf Mekhakian, 31 of Van Nuys, California, sentenced to 90 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft
• Radik Karapetyan, 25, of North Hollywood, California, sentenced to 78 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft
• Siranush Yengibaryan, 24, of Van Nuys, California, sentenced to 66 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft
• Armen Saplekchian, 37, of Tarzana, California, sentenced to 60 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft
• Mushegh Melkonyan, 28, of Las Vegas, Nevada, sentenced to 54 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud; aggravated identity theft
• Anatoly Zinchenko, 47, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, sentenced to 33 months for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud

According to court documents, the convictions may result in immigration consequences for some of the men. Karapetyan and Yengibaryan are citizens of Armenia and green card holders, and Saplekchian is an illegal alien.