The fraud first showed up about the time Thanksgiving was getting started -- a perfect time for hackers since banks closed their doors for the long holiday weekend. It's also about the time NewsChannel9's Facebook page was lit up with people posting comments about how they were scammed.
"I was so shocked, I was actually going to go Black Friday shopping," Kristy Weaver of LaFayette said.
When Weaver went into the LaFayette Walmart to buy a sandwich at Subway her debit card was declined. She called her bank Monday and learned the $300 she thought she had in her checking account was gone.
"All the transactions that were made were made on Thanksgiving day when I had stayed home all day until that night and they were all made in New Jersey, except for one in California," Weaver said.
LaFayette Police Sergeant Stacey Meeks said "right now we're looking at three to four hundred victims, maybe more, in the City of LaFayette alone."
That's hundreds of cases Sgt. Meeks has been swamped with since this time last week. With each passing day more people are finding out their accounts have been hacked too.
Deborah Ellis of Dalton learned about a charge to her account from a Publix store in south Florida, so she called the manager there.
"He said the card had actually been scanned at the supermarket and I sad there is no way, it's in my husband's back pocket in Dalton, Georgia," Ellis said.
The fraud goes beyond LaFayette and Dalton. Bank fraud cases are popping up in Catoosa, Chattooga and Walker counties too. The FBI is now on the case with leads pointing to either hacking into financial databases or the equipment that stores use to handle card swipes.
Beck said he expects 18 to 20 more victims to be identified.
“How many more victims, I couldn’t tell you right now, but there are several possible victims they’re still looking into,” Beck said. “You’ve got to confirm some things and get official documents. There’re photographs that are going to be involved at ATM machines to confirm that this is the same individual, so once those are confirmed you’ll probably see more charges coming.”
Investigators connected 35-year-old Taymizyan to the fraud activity by conducting surveillance on a series of ATM locations.
According to one warrant, he was photographed in late October at BB&T ATMs in Dunwoody and Sandy Springs, where he withdrew a total of $1,500 in three separate instances, using the debit card of an Acworth woman.
Taymizyan, a Russian native and naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of stealing thousands of dollars by collecting private financial data from gas pumps. He allegedly used the PINs he obtained to withdraw cash at ATMs. The common denominator was that the victims used their debit cards at gas pumps.
“We believe he was utilizing skimmers,” Beck said.
Card “skimming” is becoming increasingly popular amongst criminals, making it a billion-dollar industry, according to banking industry data. To get the data, criminals attach a card skimmer over an actual card reader on an ATM or other place where debit or credit cards are swiped. Information from the device, which records account numbers and access codes of unsuspecting victims on its magnetic strip, can later be retrieved from the device or transmitted.
Skimmers can’t easily be seen on the readers, Beck said, so most people swiping their cards would not realize something was amiss.
Skimming can occur at ATMs, restaurants or stores, as well as card-activated gasoline pumps. According to the sheriff’s office, gasoline pumps across the county were targeted. Authorities are investigating similar transactions in Texas, Nevada and California, Beck said.
Investigators suspect Taymizyan drove to Georgia from California and was staying in a hotel, where he possibly received assistance from other individuals.
“This has been going on not just in Georgia, but in other states also,” Beck said. “We think it’s several individuals involved with this.”
Sherri Scott, a spokeswoman for Vinings-based RaceTrac, which has been linked to many of the local thefts, said her company has been working with the sheriff’s office. She said RaceTrac will be installing security decal stickers, which can reveal tampering, on pumps at all of its stores by the end of the year.
“The roll-out of the security decals was planned before these alleged incidents took place,” she said. “Data theft prevention is a big issue for all retailers. We have an internal task force that’s been charged with addressing this and figuring out the best way to protect our guests.
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