Hoover police arrest two women with at least 42 cloned credit cards

Hoover police say two identity theft suspects arrested on Thursday are part of a much larger identity theft ring from south Florida.

Police arrested Liyipsi Lopez-Lima, 34, of Hialeah, Fla., and Olga Lidia Gonzalez-Diaz, 40, of Miami Thursday afternoon and found at least 42 cloned credit cards in their possession.

The suspects reportedly used cloned credit cards to make $3,500 in purchases before police arrested them on Thursday, and they had made more than $13,000 in purchases the day before, police said.

The card numbers were reportedly stolen using a gas pump skimming device, and several victims recently purchased gas at the Exxon on Tyler Road in Bluff Park, police report. Police encourage anyone who recently purchased gas at that Exxon station to check their purchase history for potential fraudulent activity.

Warrants charging both Lopez-Lima and Gonzalez-Diaz with trafficking in stolen identities were obtained on Friday. Bond was set at $250,000 each.

Detectives say they believe the women are part of a larger credit card cloning and identity theft ring and ask anyone with additional information to contact Hoover Detective Ben Nichols at 739-7188.