Russian Brothers Sentenced In Massive Fort Lauderdale Fraud Factory

Igor Grushko, 33, and Denis Grushko, 29, Russian nationals who were residing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida have been sentenced to over 145 months in prison, after having been previously convicted by a South Florida federal jury of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to possess and use stolen credit cards, production of fraudulent credit cards, and production of counterfeit identification documents.

Court records show brothers Igor and Denis Grushko were running a sophisticated credit card fraud factory out of their Fort Lauderdale residence. When USSS agents executed a search warrant at their home, law enforcement discovered rubber molds and plastic resin which the Grushkos used to manufacture their own credit card skimming devices, dozens of skimming devices, ATM overlays, pinhole cameras, and similar devices used to steal credit and debit card information. A credit card embosser, encoder, and magnetic stripe reader used to create counterfeit cards, along with sheets of Maryland state identification holograms and an identification card printer which was used to create fake identification cards was also discovered. There were also hundreds of fraudulent credit cards and fake ID’s, and thousands of unauthorized credit and debit card numbers on the Grushkos’ computers.

Law enforcement also discovered several tutorials appearing to instruct the Grushko brothers how to commit identity theft and credit card fraud. For example, one document in their possession read, “What is carding? Well, carding is the art of credit card fraud. The motive is usually tied to money. Handling a $9,000 plasma TV knowing that you didn’t pay one cent for it is definitely a rush. But real carders seem to card for something more. The rush that the federalles could bust down your door at any minute? The defiance of knowing that every day that you are walking among the public is another day that you have gotten away with a federal crime?”

Evidence at trial further established that the Grushko brothers conspired with Vadym Vozniuk to use the personal identifying information of hundreds of unsuspecting victims across South Florida, including victims’ credit card numbers, names, addresses, and phone numbers, to fraudulently obtain over $100,000 in high-end electronics from local Target retail stores.

Vozniuk, 24, a Ukrainian national who was also residing in Fort Lauderdale, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, after having been convicted at trial of conspiracy to possess and use stolen credit cards.


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