Five More People Arrested and Charged With EBT Skimming and Theft
This past week, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, an indictment charging five people with fraud and aggravated identity theft for various ATM skimming-related crimes perpetrated between May 2022 and February 2023, was partially unsealed. To execute the fraud, the defendants allegedly installed devices and cameras on ATMs, capturing victim account information and personal identification numbers (PINs). The defendants then transferred data obtained by those devices onto counterfeit debit cards, which the defendants used to make purchases and withdraw cash. As a result, the defendants compromised over 600 victim accounts and stole thousands of dollars.
Five defendants were arrested earlier this morning in New York, and are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Vera M. Scanlon at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, James Smith, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI) and Patrick Freaney, Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Secret Service (USSS), New York Field Office and Edward A. Caban, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the charges.
“As alleged, the defendants engaged in a sophisticated scheme by installing cameras and devices in ATM card slots to surreptitiously steal victim bank account information and use that stolen information to cash out for their own personal gain,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “The arrests today demonstrate that this Office will continue to investigate and prosecute fraudulent activity compromising victims’ financial safety and security.”
As set forth in the indictment and other filings, the defendants committed these crimes in two phases, installations and removals, and “cash-outs.” In the first phase, the defendants installed deep-insert skimming devices in the ATMs, which are thin devices the defendants implanted in ATM card slots. These sophisticated devices captured and stored data from debit cards used by unsuspecting victims who conducted transactions at the ATMs while the skimming device was implanted. The defendants simultaneously installed hidden cameras to record victims inputting their PINs. After recovering the cameras and skimming devices, the defendants used the data captured by the skimming devices to create counterfeit debit cards. In the second phase, the defendants then used the counterfeit debit cards and the corresponding PINs, which were captured by the hidden cameras, to “cash out,” or make purchases and withdraw cash. From these skimming and “cash out” crimes, the defendants appropriated account information from over 600 unsuspecting victims.
Users of ATMs are cautioned that advanced skimming devices and pinhole cameras installed on ATMs, like those used by the defendants, may be well disguised and undetected by the ATM user. Law enforcement agents encourage ATM users to shield the ATM keypad when entering PINs and other user information to prevent their accounts from being compromised.
The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Assistant United States Attorneys Irisa Chen and Raffaela Belizaire are in charge of the prosecution. The investigation is being conducted by the FBI, USSS and NYPD.
The Defendants:
IOAN-ANTON GHERASIM, also known as “Ryan Anthony”
Age: 38
Queens, New York
ELVIS DAN ATOMEI
Age: 34
Queens, New York
DAN ADRIAN AGAFITEI, also known as “Federico Cousa,” “Luciano Manzatti” and “Coval Tiago”
Age: 25
Queens, New York
BOBI BORCEA, also known as “Bobi Agafitei”
Age: 49
Queens, New York
RAZVAN VICOL, also known as “Razvan Neagu,” “Geoffrey Pasek” and “Ruben Robles de la Torre”
Age: 36
Queens, New York
E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 24-CR-78 (MKB)
