Member of ATM skimming conspiracy targeting multiple New Jersey banks sentenced to five years in prison

NEWARK – A New York man was sentenced Tuesday to 60 months in prison for participating in a scheme that used secret card-reading devices and pinhole cameras on various New York and New Jersey bank locations to steal at least $390,141, authorities said.

Bogdan Rusu, 39, of Queens previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, authorities said.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, Rusu and others engaged in a widespread bank fraud conspiracy that targeted various banks in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey.  Rusu and others captured payment card account information from customers as they accessed their accounts through automatic teller machines (ATMs) and then used that information to steal money from the customers’ bank accounts.

As part of the scheme, Rusu and others installed devises on ATMs in New Jersey and elsewhere to  illegally obtain customer account information, including account numbers and personal identification numbers. Rusu and others would then transfer the illegally obtained information to counterfeit payment cards and use those counterfeit cards to steal money from the accounts, according to documents filed in this case and statements made in court

Eleven other defendants charged in this scheme have pleaded guilty.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Salas sentenced Rusu to three years of supervised release and restitution of $390,141.