Federal authorities say the man helped reproduce cardholders' magnetic strips. Then many fraudulent cards were sent to the Middle East.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VANSICKLER
Published June 6, 2003
With his attractive home on a cul-de-sac in the peaceful Brandon community of Hickory Lakes Estates, Jamal Jalal Hijaz appeared to be living a charmed life.
He bragged to business acquaintances that business was so good he made $20-million in the past 12 years.
But federal authorities say he made his money through an international credit card scam that funnels money to the Middle East.
Hijaz, 40, was arrested May 29 in connection with the scheme, which is laid out in a nine-page federal indictment released this week in Ohio.
Arrested with Hijaz - who has a history of felony convictions for grand larceny, racketeering, and forgery - was 44-year-old Virginia resident Shaoqi Kader Hudra.
The arrests follow a month of surveillance conducted in Lake County, Ohio, with the help of an Israeli-born travel agent, Ali Ewais, who was seeking leniency in his own credit card and check fraud case.
According to the indictment, Hijaz and Hudra began their scam with a gray, pager-sized "cloning device" that records information from the magnetic strips on authentic cards.
The men persuaded employees of businesses throughout Canada and the United States - including Tampa, Miami, Los Angeles and New York - to swipe patrons' cards in exchange for a fee.
Hijaz then used two other machines to create the fraudulent cards. One machine reproduced the magnetic strips, and another copied them onto blank cards that were counterfeits of American Express, Visa and MasterCard, according to the indictment.
The indictment did not specify how much the employees were paid, or how many were involved, but federal officials said the investigation is ongoing.
Most of the cards were sent to the Middle East, including Egypt and Jordan, according to conversations - mostly in Arabic - that were recorded and videotaped between Hijaz, Hudra and the FBI informer Ewais, throughout May.
In the Middle East, unidentified "contacts" made cash withdrawals from the credit accounts until the rightful owners discovered the fraud and canceled the cards, according to the indictment.
Hijaz and Hudra are charged with conspiracy to produce and use counterfeit credit cards, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; and attempted possession of device-making equipment, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years.
"The statements from Hijaz indicate he's clearly trying to get these devices and shuffle them around," Gregory C. Sasse, assistant U.S. attorney, said Thursday.
A detention hearing will be held in Ohio today for Hudra. Hijaz was placed into the custody of the federal marshals after his arrest and will face his charges in Ohio.
On May 29, federal agents searched Hijaz's 2-year-old home.
According to the seizure record, the FBI left with 21 items. Among them: a laptop computer, a cellular phone, credit cards and invoices found in the living room and in Hijaz's wallet, miscellaneous financial statements found in the kitchen, and a file folder containing more credit cards.
According to the FBI affidavit, Hijaz told Ewais during a May 6 meeting at Complete Travel near Cleveland that he uses a $7,000 machine to extract the credit card information from the cloning device.
He said he keeps the machine in his Brandon home, where he also has a locked room that houses "special equipment and a computer to run this business, along with a large safe," the affidavit states.
Federal officials say Hijaz also bragged to Ewais that his brother, Hussain Hijaz, was arrested by the Secret Service several years ago and sent to jail for 18 months because he had in his possession 250 counterfeit credit cards.
Hijaz told Ewais he has made $20-million from his scheme, and pulled out his wallet to show Ewais the 13 fraudulent credit cards in his wallet, according to the affidavit.
Florida criminal records show that Hijaz has been convicted and sentenced to probation and house arrest during the past 14 years. In 1989, he was convicted on grand larceny and racketeering charges in Madison County, and sentenced to a total of 35 years' probation.
In 1994, he was found guilty of violating his probation, and sentenced to a year of house arrest, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
In 1997, a Clearwater court found Hijaz guilty of forgery worth more than $150, and sentenced him to two years' probation, records show.
According to Hijaz's May 29 arrest record, he listed his employer as Lety's Mexican American Store in Plant City. There was no answer at the business' number.
- Times researcher John Martin and Times staff writers Graham Brink and Ruba Uri contributed to this report.
