SEATTLE – A former smoke shop owner pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to skimming information from customers’ debit and credit cards and using it to siphon as much as $250,000 from their accounts.
Among those defrauded were members of Boeing Employees CU, Group Health CU and customers of Bank of America, US Bank and WaMu.
Hrant ‘Mike’ Aslanyan, who owned and operated Smoker’s Choice in Redmond, pleaded guilty to stealing the funds from about 300 victims between 2005 and his arrest in August 2006.
While routinely processing customers’ purchases at the soke shop, Aslanyan would also run debit or credit cards through a skimmer, which captured information from the cards’ magnetic stripe. He and others involved in the scheme would use the information to make unauthorized withdrawals and charges on the victims’ cards.
