Hasan Korkmaz, Credit Card Scheme, California 2023

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Table of Contents

California Man Charged in $2 Million Credit Card Scheme

San Diego, CA – Hasan Korkmaz, the owner and operator of Santee trucking company, San Diego Logistics Group Inc., was arraigned in federal court yesterday on an 18-count indictment charging him with bank fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

According to the indictment, in 2022 and 2023, Korkmaz executed a credit card “bust-out” scheme where fraudsters establish seemingly legitimate credit card accounts and then “bust out” by maxing out the credit line with no intention of paying the balance. Korkmaz allegedly obtained names, dates of birth, social security numbers and other personally identifiable information corresponding with real individuals.

The indictment alleges that Korkmaz applied for numerous credit card accounts with that information. After opening the fraudulent credit cards accounts, Korkmaz allegedly used the credit cards to incur charges at various businesses, including Korkmaz’s San Diego Logitistics Group Inc. The charges were in the thousands of dollars each, including some charges as high as $18,500 in a single transaction.

To perpetuate the scheme, Korkmaz also made fraudulent payments, with checks drawn on accounts with insufficient funds or drawn on non-existent accounts, to the credit card accounts, thereby temporarily restoring the available credit limits, the indictment said. Korkmaz would then incur additional charges on the credit card accounts at or near the maximum credit limits for the accounts.

As alleged in the indictment, Korkmaz laundered the bank fraud proceeds, including by transferring proceeds from the fraud scheme to a Turkish bank account controlled by Korkmaz. In total, Korkmaz caused over $2,103,000 in losses to two banks.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Mokhtari and Christopher Alexander.

Korkmaz’s charges include:

Counts 1-12: Bank Fraud – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1344(2) – Maximum penalty: Thirty years in prison; a maximum $1 million fine.

Counts 13-14: Money Laundering – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1957 – Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison; a maximum $500,000 fine or twice the amount of monetary instruments involved in the offense, whichever is greatest.

Counts 15-18: Aggravated Identity Theft – Title 18, U.S.C. Section 1028A – Maximum penalty: Mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, to run consecutively to the specified felony.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.