On April 27, 2017, in the early evening, a security officer from Chase Bank in Seattle observed a man through an ATM’s camera as he approached and took off a card-skimming device
After a few moments, police officers took action and arrested Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, who was an Orlando, Florida resident at the time. This case resulted in a guilty plea and Trelha’s deportation back to Brazil.
Now that man is stepping forward and telling the FBI that it was George Santos – the disgraced politician and his former roommate who is responsible for the whole matter.
The former Roommate Reports The Scheme To The FBI
Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, Santos’s roommate, told the FBI, “Santos taught me how to skim card information and how to clone cards. He gave me all the materials and taught me how to put skimming devices and cameras on ATM machines”
Trelha who was convicted of the fraud and deported to Brazil stated in a sworn declaration to federal authorities that George Santos orchestrated a credit card skimming operation in Seattle back in 2017.
He came forward to make the statement after he saw Santos on TV and wanted to set the record straight.
Now the Secret Service is apparently investigating the matter.
They Met in 2016 And That Is When Santos Taught Him To Be A Fraudster
Trelha and Santos first communicated with each other in the fall of 2016 in a Facebook group for Brazilians in Orlando.
In November of 2016, Trelha began renting a room from Santos in Winter Park Florida. And it was shortly after that, when Santos started teaching him how to clone cards.
“He had a lot of material — parts, printers, blank ATM and credit cards to be painted and engraved with stolen account and personal information,” he adds, claiming that Santos gave him some of the equipment stored at his warehouse.
He claims he flew to Seattle in a 50/50 deal where Santos and himself would split money that he was able to get off the skimmed cards.
The deal fell apart though when Trelha was caught removing a skimming device from an ATM machine in Seattle.
The skimming operation was sophisticated and very large. In Seattle alone, Trelha was arrested for stealing over 300 credit cards in 3 days with the skimming devices he installed.
Trelha had advised authorities that he was paid $100 a day to add and remove skimming devices from ATM machines and he would later load the credit card information up to the Cloud for the Brazilian skimming operation to use.
When Trelha was in the slammer he said Santos offered no assistance, even though he took the fall for him.
“Santos did not help me to get out of jail. He also stole the money that I had collected for my bail,” Trelha told federal investigators.
This isn’t the first time Santos has been embroiled in controversy. He is generally considered an outcast at this point and no other politician seems to want to have anything to do with him.