4 arrested in thefts of customer information at 2 Stop & Shops
COVENTRY, R.I. --Four California men were arrested in what police said was a scheme to switch checkout-lane credit card readers at Stop & Shop supermarkets to steal customers' numbers and passwords.
The men allegedly removed or tried to remove PIN pads from at least six stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and replaced them with alternate machines that would be used to record shoppers' debit or credit card information, authorities said Tuesday. Later, the men would come back and replace the original keypads.
The men were arrested Monday night while allegedly attempting to switch keypads at a store in Coventry, police said. A store security officer called police after employees noticed one suspect trying to remove a keypad while two others were trying to distract store workers.
Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, and Arman Teresayan, 22, both of Los Angeles, Mikael Stepanian, 28, of Studio City, Calif., and Gevork Baldtadjian, 20, of Winnetka, Calif., were arrested and charged with three felonies and one misdemeanor each, including conspiracy and computer theft. A Kent County District Court judge on Tuesday ordered them held on bail ranging from $150,000 to $200,000.
Prosecutor Gina Lopes said her office was told by the U.S. Secret Service that the men may be part of a group suspected of similar activities in other cities, including Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Miami.
"It's one of the most egregious consumer crimes this court, your honor, is going to see," Lopes told the judge.
Citizens Bank reported it lost $100,000 from the scheme and two other banks reported thefts of $10,000 and $5,000, Lopes said. She said the investigation continues.
Debit and possibly credit card account numbers and pins were stolen from the Coventry and Cranston stores in early February, the company has said. Faith Weiner, a Stop & Shop spokeswoman, said between 70 to 80 accounts of customers who shopped at those stores showed signs of fraud.
Stop & Shop, based in Quincy, Mass., said it also discovered similar tampering at four other stores -- in Bristol, Providence, Warwick and in Seekonk, Mass. After that, the company bolted the keypads down in all its 385 stores.
Weiner said those bolts stymied the alleged thieves on Monday night.
"They couldn't remove the pin pad," she said.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch said thousands of consumers could potentially be affected. He urged anyone who thinks they've been affected to watch their bank statements and get a free credit report.
"This modern technology, your name is going across city and state lines and international boundaries," Lynch said.
The thefts were first discovered after a bank notified Stop & Shop that two store locations were the common links to illegal purchases made elsewhere. Stop & Shop investigated, and found evidence of keypad tampering.
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On the Web: http://www.stopandshop.com
