(The Center Square) – Texas law enforcement officers have shut down another fuel pump skimming criminal network targeting gas stations, this time run by Cubans and Mexicans in the country illegally.
As the border crisis worsened under the Biden administration, Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas legislature allocated an unprecedented amount of funds for border security efforts and established Operation Lone Star. They also established and funded a series of task forces, allocated funding for joint law enforcement operations through Fusion Centers and established the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC).
The FCIC was established in 2021, the same year as OLS, to combat organized financial crimes. Based in Tyler, Texas, it operates under an interlocal agreement between the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation and the Smith County Criminal District Attorney’s Office in northeast Texas.
In this case, the FCIC led a multi-agency operation that dismantled an organized criminal ring responsible for installing payment card skimmers on high-flow diesel pumps. The skimmers were used to steal credit and bank card information to fraudulently obtain fuel from truck stops across North Texas, investigators allege.
The targeted operation began in late April after the Garland Police Department requested assistance from the FCIC to respond to multiple reports of stolen fuel and card numbers. Investigators found that the operation was being run by Cuban and Mexican nationals in the country illegally who placed skimming devices on fuel pumps stretching from Dallas County to Smith County.
The skimming devices were installed on diesel pumps used by trucks and 18-wheelers at a time when diesel prices were at an all-time high in Texas. Investigators note that the stolen credit card and bank data is then fraudulently used in the diesel fuel black market. By using cloned cards, suspects purchase large quantities of diesel fuel often using vehicles equipped with hidden auxiliary tanks and then resell the fuel on the black market for cash.
Authorities estimated the Cuban and Mexican group stole between 1,500 and 2,500 gallons of diesel every night, five to six nights a week, pumping the fuel into hidden compartments built into the vehicles they drove.
Law enforcement officers executed search warrants in the Dallas suburbs of Irving and Arlington. Searches recovered “a significant quantity of skimming-related equipment, including 10 skimmers and 50 altered payment cards,” as well as a laptop connected to a re-encoding device used to write stolen card numbers onto new cards, the FCIC said.
Authorities didn’t give an estimate on how much money and fuel had been stolen already but estimated they prevented roughly $10 million in additional fraud losses from occurring.
FCIC Field Operations Captain Jeff Headley said the “operation reflects the exceptional coordination and commitment of our local, state, and federal partners. The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center was created by the Texas Legislature for the purpose of coordinating large-scale investigations such as this, and we are privileged to lead an effort that protects the citizens of Texas.”
Those arrested include Cuban nationals Jael Diaz Morejon, Adriana Castillo Oliveros, Noel Pena Rodriguez, Carlos Virgilio Lopez Coba and Mexican national Betsy Santiesteban Lopez.
They were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony, and are being held in the Tarrant and Dallas county jails. ICE also detained two people found at residences where the search warrants were executed.
In addition to Garland PD, those involved in the investigation include the police departments of Irving and Arlington as well as the Texas Department of Public Safety Special Operations Group, Texas DPS Anti-Gang Group, ICE, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force. The Smith County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting the case.
The bust comes after the FCIC dismantled a major skimming ring in April preventing an estimated $19 million in losses. This fuel pump skimming network targeted consumers in the Waco region in central Texas as well as statewide, the FCIC said.
Investigators also warn that stolen credit and bank data from these schemes are fraudulently used in retail theft. The stolen financial information is used to make unauthorized purchases of high value goods from various retailers, which are then resold to third parties or through secondary markets. This allows the suspects to convert the stolen credit into liquid cash, FCIC explains.
The FCIC investigations are simultaneous to other investigations targeting ATM jackpotting occurring nationwide after millions of illegal foreign nationals poured into the country under the Biden administration. Many are run by South American Theft Groups, including by citizens of Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador, as well as members of the violent foreign terrorist organizations, Tren de Aragua and MS-13, The Center Square reported.