Alleged credit card skimmer arrested

A Glendale man was arrested last week after he allegedly used a credit card skimmer at a Laguna Beach gas station to obtain customer information and then use it to put thousands of dollars’ worth of fraudulent charges on their accounts.

Akop Tadevosovich Changryan, 27, was arrested Thursday near his Glendale home after a lengthy investigation and remains in an Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail, according to Laguna Beach police.

The devices were allegedly placed on the pumps of a Shell gas the station and removed after the station closed. The information obtained from the skimmers last summer was then be used to produce fake credit cards, on which unauthorized charges were made.

Changryan allegedly used the account information to buy items in Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, New Mexico and Arizona. Some account holders did not realize they had been victimized until their credit card statements were received a month later, according to Laguna Beach police.

The nine known victims had thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise charged to their accounts, but the exact amount of is still unknown, police Sgt. Louise Callus said.

Several credit-card-skimming cases have popped up throughout Los Angeles County in recent months, including an operation at a Sierra Madre gas station where at least 282 victims had their account information stolen. Losses there were reportedly at least $82,000.

Changryan was arrested after being identified by physical evidence at the gas station, according to Laguna Beach police.

— Veronica Rocha contributed to this report.