A 35-year-old Russian national is being held without bond in Cobb County Jail after police say he used stolen debit card information to loot the bank accounts of possibly hundreds of victims, Channel 2 Action News reports.
Akop Taymizyam of Glendale, Calif., was booked into the jail last week on more than a dozen charges including identify fraud, financial transaction card fraud and racketeering, according to the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.
Police say the man was taking other people’s debit card information, duplicating it on blank cards and then using the cards to withdraw money from their bank accounts.
Most victims have told police they simply swiped their debit card at a gas pump – many at a RaceTrac on Wade Green Road in Acworth. It’s possible a “skimmer” device may have been placed over card readers to read account information off the cards.
“It’s still a mystery at this point,” Acworth police Capt. Tony Bailey told Channel 2. “Not only did he get the debit cards from the victims, but he also got their PIN numbers.”
Investigators also are trying to determine who the suspect was working for and what happened to people's' money. The man is not cooperating with authorities, police said.
Following up on victims’ complaints, police checked ATMs where cash was being withdrawn, and surveillance video showed the same individual each time. They say they finally caught Taymizyam in the act of withdrawing money. He’s been in Cobb County Jail since Nov. 4.
One victim, Rochelle Mills, told Channel 2 the first inkling she had that something was wrong was when she checked her bank balance and discovered it was short by $500.
“I was basically, where did it go?” Mills said. “It makes me angry. … It was money I worked hard for, and someone just goes and takes it.”
Police said they have dozens of victims on record but seized hundreds of cards containing debit card information from Taymizyam.
“We could have victims all the way up until Christmas that don’t know they’ve been a victim at this point,” Bailey said.
Police urged people to keep a close eye on their bank accounts for suspicious activity.
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