Siblings arrested on credit fraud charges
U.S. Secret Service agents arrested two people in the Seattle area Wednesday on federal charges accusing them of pulling off an elaborate credit card fraud scheme in Eastern Washington totaling more than $120,000.
The pair, returned to Spokane by federal agents, are accused in a grand jury indictment of obtaining credit card numbers from a copy shop near the University of Washington and using them to post a jail bond in Clarkston and make other purchases.
The conspirators also opened a pre-paid credit card account with a $70 deposit, then used it to make unauthorized, fraudulent purchases, the indictment says.
When merchants became suspicious, the cardholder would call a fellow conspirator posing as a MasterCard customer service representative, who would authorize the transaction, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice.
Muhammed Zbeida Tillisy, 20, and his sister, Najla Mehdi Tillisy, 22, made initial appearances before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno, who ordered them held in jail without bonds until a bail hearing is held today.
A Secret Service agent arrested Muhammed Tillisy upon his release from the Monroe Reformatory, where he had served time on state charges. His sister was arrested at her home in Lynnwood, authorities said.
The two were indicted last week by a federal grand jury, which returned a six-count indictment.
Also indicted in the scheme were Ahmad Samir Sarhan, who is expected to surrender soon to federal authorities, and Ahmad Sha Tarshi, a fugitive who sources say may be in Afghanistan.
Muhammed Tillisy is charged with conspiracy, attempted credit card fraud and four counts of credit card fraud.
He was the “organizer, leader or manager of the scheme to defraud,” the indictment alleges.
The conspiracy lasted from Nov. 3, 2003, to Dec. 31, 2003, in the Eastern district of Washington state and elsewhere, the indictment says, without disclosing the other locations.
The items purchased in the credit card fraud scheme aren’t listed in the indictment.
The first count says Muhammed Tillisy and Najla Tillisy attempted to make a $5,767 purchase on Nov. 2, 2003, with a credit card issued to someone else. That attempted purchase was foiled.
But later that same day, the pair successfully used the same card to make a $2,000 purchase, and two others for $2,267 and $1,500.
On Dec. 6, 2003, Muhammed Tillisy and Ahmad Sarhan used a pre-paid credit card account, which they opened with $70, to make a fraudulent $1,668 purchase.
“When a merchant would inform the defendants that the transaction with (one) MasterCard account was declined, one would pretend to call the credit card customer service representative but, in fact, call one of the co-conspirators,” the indictment says.
“The co-conspirator, posing as the customer service representative, would then provide a six-digit authorization code for the merchant to force the transaction, when there was no authorization for the transaction because the pre-paid card did not have a positive balance,” it adds.