Mohamed Fadiga Sentenced in Counterfeit Card Scheme

Indianapolis man Mohamed Fadiga, 43, is headed to federal prison after being convicted of possessing counterfeit and unauthorized access devices, a crime that targeted victims across multiple jurisdictions with brazen precision. The 2-day jury trial in Hammond, Indiana, ended in a guilty verdict, sealing Fadiga’s fate in a case that exposed a sophisticated scheme to exploit stolen personal data.

Fadiga was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment by Chief Judge Philip Simon, followed by one year of supervised release. The sentence, handed down in federal court, marks the end of a tight but damning prosecution led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Toi D. Houston and Maria N. Lerner, who painted Fadiga as the hub of a fraudulent card network tied to stolen identities.

Court documents reveal Fadiga possessed more than 15 counterfeit debit and credit cards, each re-encoded with the personal financial information of unsuspecting victims. What made the fraud particularly audacious: the cards bore Fadiga’s name, effectively masking his theft under a veneer of legitimacy while draining others’ accounts.

The investigation began with a tip that led Hobart Police to Fadiga’s trail, but it quickly ballooned into a federal case under the purview of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations. Authorities uncovered a pattern of cross-jurisdictional fraud, linking the counterfeit cards to victims scattered across state lines.

United States Attorney David A. Capp emphasized the collaborative effort that brought Fadiga to justice, stating that crimes like these erode public trust in financial systems and demand swift federal action. “This conviction sends a clear message: those who weaponize stolen identities will face serious consequences,” Capp said.

Fadiga’s 30-month sentence underscores the federal government’s hard line on financial fraud, especially when it involves organized deception and exploitation of vulnerable personal data. As digital theft grows more complex, cases like this highlight the gritty underbelly of identity crime in America’s heartland.