VAN NUYS : Head of Credit Card Fraud Ring Gets 40-Day Jail Term

A Pierce College business major charged with heading a credit card fraud ring that made an estimated $100,000 in illegal purchases was sentenced Thursday to 40 days in County Jail and three years probation.

Ali Mojaddam also was ordered to pay $18,222 to a restitution fund. The 19-year-old Reseda resident had pleaded no contest to charges of counterfeiting and forgery. He was arrested last year after police raided his home and uncovered an extensive wardrobe, electronics and other merchandise that they said was purchased illegally by altering the magnetic strips on credit cards.

The search and arrest followed a six-month investigation into a 25-member credit card fraud ring that investigators believe was responsible for dozens of fraudulent charges. Police said Mojaddam admitted that he headed the ring that used a computer program to “re-encode” the numbers on the magnetic strips of credit cards that were reported lost or stolen.

Prosecutors said the ring members used a home computer program to reset commercially sold machines that can change information on the magnetic strips on credit cards.