Malik Delima, Credit Card Fraud Conspiracy, ME 2024

Malik Delima, 26, and Shaun Wray, 26, both of Brooklyn, New York, are headed to federal prison after being sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, for their roles in a brazen credit card fraud conspiracy. Judge George Z. Singal handed down a 75-month sentence to Delima and 20 months to Wray, both followed by three years of supervised release. They were also ordered to pay $28,483 in restitution.

The scheme, which unfolded in March 2015, involved a crew of fraudsters who crossed state lines from New York to Maine with one goal: cash out stolen data. Armed with equipment to produce counterfeit cards and a pipeline to over 1,100 stolen credit card accounts sourced from Ukraine, Delima and Wray transformed blank gift cards into working financial weapons, hitting retailers across Maine and beyond.

On March 24, 2015, the operation collapsed when federal agents and local police raided an apartment in Auburn, Maine. Inside, they found Delima, Wray, and others surrounded by the tools of their trade — more than 100 completed fraudulent credit cards, blank gift cards in various stages of forgery, and the card-encoding machinery that made it all possible.

Court records show the group didn’t just dabble in fraud — they ran a mobile factory. Using stolen account numbers bought from an overseas cybercriminal network, they encoded cards on-demand, maximizing their window of exploitation before victims or banks could shut down the compromised accounts.

The investigation was a joint effort led by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, with critical support from the Auburn Police Department and forensic analysis by the Maine State Police Crime Laboratory. Federal prosecutors say the collaboration was key to dismantling the ring before it could expand.

Both Delima and Wray pleaded guilty in July 2016, admitting their roles in a criminal enterprise that turned Maine into a temporary fraud hub. U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II emphasized that federal authorities are watching — and cracking down — on organized financial crime, no matter where it strikes.