Man built devices to skim petrol station customers’ cards in US$620,000 scheme, US feds say

Fichidzhyan built devices, called ‘skimmers’, that were used to steal customers’ financial information during transactions, the US Attorney’s Office said. His accomplices broke into gas pumps around Southern California and installed the devices. — Photo by Dawn McDonald on Unsplash

A man built electronic devices that were secretly installed at dozens of gas stations to skim customers’ credit and debit card information, according to US federal prosecutors.

Robert Fichidzhyan, 40, of Los Angeles was sentenced on Jan 9 to more than three years in prison, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office of Southern California.