An Armenian national and resident of Glendale, California, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with his involvement in obtaining and using thousands of stolen credit and debit card numbers, Alexandria News reported.

According to court documents, Armen Saplekchian, 37, conspired with at least six other individuals to steal at least 18,000 credit and debit cards numbers, as well as the personal identification numbers associated with many of the stolen card numbers, through the use of electronic devices known as “skimmers.” 

On April 4, a federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging Saplekchian, Timburek Khasanov, 37, and Mushegh Melkonyan, 28, with bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, as well as Anatoly Zinchenko, 47, with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud.