Minnesota police charges 11 crooks in a credit card scam

Eleven people were charged with fraud in an elaborate, counterfeit credit card scheme in Minnesota. Eight of these defendants are at the custody at the moment while the other three are still being searched by the police.

The criminal complaint states that the gang purchased the personal information of Capitol One Bank customers from an online source in the Ukraine, who illegally profited from the sale. Afterwards, the group used the information to create counterfeit credit card accounts, withdrawing more than $652,205.49 from more than 170 ATMs throughout the Twin Cities.

According to the statement of the federal investigators the defendants converted the stolen money into cashier checks and used to purchase vehicle parts or vehicles with salvaged titles. Those vehicles were then shipped to Nigeria, where un-named co-conspirators sold them at an inflated price. The criminals exploited Nigerian residents living in Minneapolis to buy pre-determined cars at auto auctions.

Besides, these defendants are also accused of getting some of the same people to create bank accounts so they could deposit high-dollar fraudulent checks and then withdraw the cash the following day. 

Each of the crooks are charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of access device fraud. They face up to 30 years in prison on the bank fraud count and 10 years on each access device fraud count.