LOVELAND, Ohio — Two people were arrested after they were caught placing credit card skimming devices on gas pumps in Loveland and using the stolen data to purchase gift cards throughout the Tri-State area.
According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker's office, 34-year-old Yasmany Ulacia Garcia and 29-year-old Luis Ernesto Vigil Ochoa are accused of placing the card skimmers on multiple occasions in April.
In that same month, surveillance footage caught the two buying gift cards and other merchandise at Home Depot stores in Mason, Hamilton, Lebanon, West Chester, Beechmont, Milford and Cold Spring, Ky. They were also caught on surveillance using stolen credit card information to buy gift cards at a Target in Mason, the press release said.
They were arrested on Dec. 8 in Dayton, Ohio, after federal agents learned Ochoa and Garcia were staying at a hotel in the city. Agents then followed the pair as they traveled to four Home Depot stores and two Target stores around Dayton.
In their vehicle, agents found gift cards and a fraudulent American Express card. When the hotel room the pair were staying in was searched, agents also found a magnetic strip reader/writer and an illicit skimming device, the press release said.
The press release did not provide details on how many people could have been affected by the skimmers, or how many cards were potentially compromised. The press release also did not identify which gas stations the skimmers had been used at or how many stations were hit.
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