2 more charged in counterfeit scheme that targeted NC Walmart stores
Raleigh NC October 8 2018 Two men face years in prison over a credit card scheme that involved multiple Triangle-area Walmart stores.
Abdoulaie Francis Lowe Nicolas of Raleigh and Salifu Jallow of Georgia were sentenced to two years and five years, respectively, for their role in what the feds have described as a complex counterfeit operation – one that involved more than $1 million in illegally-purchased cigarettes.
They were the last of 10 individuals named in an indictment Nov. 15, 2015, alleging that they trafficked stolen credit and debt card account numbers, then laundered the proceeds.
According to the feds, the group started with stolen credit card information acquired online from “overseas hackers.”
The date would then be encoded onto magnetic strips of plastic credit cards, altered from their original form, according to the indictment. Then one of the suspects would visit a Walmart “in the Eastern District of North Carolina and elsewhere,” and use the counterfeit cards to buy gift cards. Suspects would then take those real cards to a Sam’s Club store and purchase cartons of cigarettes, which they would then allegedly sell to a vendor in exchange for payment.
The scheme, the feds allege, took place between 2012 and 2015 at numerous Walmart locations in the Triangle area – including those in Apex, Cary and Clayton.
Others implicated by the feds in the scheme include Tendai Munayradzi Makoni, Malamin Ousman Sonko, Mark Tony Evans, Momar Talla Ndir, Pa Ambrose Mendy, Dabed Del Jesus Sanchez, Joseph Daren Holcomb and Aaron Kent Davis.
Both Jallow and Nicolas had already pleaded guilty. Jallow was charged with conspiracy to commit money launder and aggravated identity theft. Nicolas was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
