A man arrested last year in possession of more than 500 fraudulent credit and debit cards, which he used to rip cash from legitimate accounts, will serve five years in prison, according to the office of the U.S. attorney for the district of Nevada.
Khachatur Zakaryan, 37, of California, who was sentenced Thursday in a Las Vegas federal court, was ordered to three years of supervision once he’s out of prison, officials said.
The scam took place around February 2017 when Zakaryan and unnamed perpetrators obtained counterfeit cards encoded with previously stolen account numbers, officials said. Zakaryan then drove to various ATMs across the Las Vegas area to withdraw cash. The criminal complaint doesn't indicate how much money was taken.
The ruse occurred in a short period of time, officials said. Law enforcement officials previously said each fraudulent card can generate between $2,000 and $4,000.
When law enforcement searched Zakaryan, his van and hotel rooms, they found 530 such cards, officials said.
Zakaryan was not a stranger to the crime or to law enforcement, officials said. He’d been on probation in a similar case at the time of his latest offense.
He also is facing charges in North Carolina on allegations of ATM skimming and fraud charges, officials said.
In the local case, Zakaryan had pleaded guilty to four counts each of producing, using, or trafficking in a counterfeit access device, and aggravated identity theft, and one count of possession of 15 or more counterfeit or unauthorized access devices, officials said. He didn’t qualify for a plea agreement.
An FBI task force and Henderson Police investigated the case.