Owner of Santee Trucking Company Charged in $2 Million Credit Card Scheme

SAN DIEGO – Hasan Korkmaz, the owner and operator of San Diego Logistics Group Inc., a Santee trucking company, was arraigned in federal court today 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.

The indictment alleges that Korkmaz obtained names, dates of birth, social security numbers and other personally identifiable information corresponding with real individuals. Korkmaz then 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.

DEFENDANT                                               Case Number 25-cr-1405-JES                   

Hasan Korkmaz                                              Age: 44                                   Las Vegas, NV

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

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

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation