Fairfax County police detectives on Monday arrested a man in connection with the skimming of ATM cards at bank machines at local hospitals. He is Loan Cicio, 39, of 2230 George C. Marshall Drive in Falls Church.
Cicio was charged with three counts of possession of credit card forgery devices (skimmers), three counts of credit card theft, two counts of credit card fraud and one count of money laundering. The investigation is ongoing and there may be more charges, plus additional arrests.
Police tracked down Cicio after he was allegedly identified in a surveillance video linked to a compromised ATM card belonging to the Fairfax City Local 2702 Fire Association in September 2012. With help from detectives from the Fairfax City Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service, the card was tracked purchasing gift cards from a Home Depot in Falls Church and then used to buy custom-made carpeting and high-end faucets.
Detectives executed a search warrant at the suspect’s home Thursday, Jan. 24, and recovered items including skimmer devices, cameras and computers. They then arrested Cicio, on Monday, Jan. 28, around noon. Police had received reports from more than a dozen victims who may have had their bank cards compromised at hospital ATM machines in recent months.
“Detectives did an outstanding job of putting together extensive documents, numerous tips and video in this complex investigation,” said Lt. Tony Matos, supervisor of the Fairfax County Police Financial Crimes Unit. “It was a tremendous amount of work.”
He said financial crimes are on the rise. Last year, the public reported almost 3,000 cases over the agency’s Financial Crimes electronic reporting site. The site’s used to report cases of identity theft, embezzlement, credit card theft and fraud, plus construction and check fraud.