Three men were arrested for fraudulently obtaining credit card numbers at a gas station in Bailey’s Crossroads, Fairfax County Police said.
Osvaldo Bello Villanueva, 40, Enrique F. Franco, 76, and Abrahan Noa, 47, all of Miami, Fl., have been charged with various counts of credit card forgery, credit card theft and criminal possession of credit card forgery devices.
A fraud investigator from an undisclosed bank contacted police on March 8 to report several customer credit and debit cards had been compromised at a gas station in the 5600 block of Columbia Pike in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County, police said. When they arrived at the gas station, officers found two financial skimming devices located inside two of the gas pumps.
Detectives set up surveillance the following night near the gas station, and with the assistance of Arlington County Police, conducted a traffic stop in the area of South Walter Reed Drive and 14th Street.
Their investigation determined the suspects were downloading financial credit and debit card information from the installed skimming device via a Bluetooth device.
A skimming device is affixed to, or installed into, a machine with a card reader. When a customer slides a card through the reader for a transaction, the device collects financial information from the card, including PIN numbers. Newer devices can be placed inside, or wired to, a card reader. Bluetooth technology allows criminals to obtain credit card information without being present at the location or having to return there to collect or download financial information.
If you feel you’ve been a victim of financial crime in Fairfax County, you can report it online through the Financial Crimes Online Reporting (FiCOR) system