Eastern European Gang Charged in $600,000 Cards Skimming Scheme

RICHMOND, Va. – Five East European nationals were charged with skimming card information from a neighborhood gas station, then using the information to withdraw $620,000 from credit union and bank ATMs, which was wired overseas to Russia and Armenia. The gang drained funds from more than 500 accounts at Virginia CU, SunTrust Bank, Bank of America BB&T and Wachovia, according to federal indictments unsealed yesterday. The leader of the gang, identified as Gagik Urutyan, 21, took a job at Miller’s Neighborhood Market has station in Mechanicsville, Va., last August , where he allegedly used a card skimmer to obtain card information at the gas pump, according to the indictment. He and his alleged accomplices then created bogus cards, which they used to tap ATMs up and down the east coast; Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Indicted as co-conspirators were: Gevork Gasparyan, 25, Anton Mesropyan, 24, Sargis Poghosyan, 24 and Gevorg Ghazaryan. Urutyan and Mesropyan have been arrested and are awaiting trial, while the others are fugitives.