MASSACHUSETTS
A Romanian man admitted Tuesday in federal court that he ran an ID theft scam that victimized 530 people in three states out of $868,0000, according to officials.
Bogdan Viorel Rusu, 38, of Romania and formerly residing in Queens, New York, plead guilty to charges of one count each of conspiracy to commit bank, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Dec. 11. Law enforcement arrested Rusu on Nov. 14, 2016. He remains in custody
According to the evidence, between approximately Aug. 3, 2014, until his arrest on Nov. 14, 2016, Rusu engaged in a widespread bank fraud conspiracy that targeted various banks in Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.
As set forth below, Rusu and his co-conspirators 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.
Rusu admitted that to capture the account information, he and his co-conspirators installed electronic devices (i.e., “skimming devices”) that surreptitiously recorded customers’ bank account information on the banks’ card-readers at the vestibule door, the ATM, or both.
Also, Rusu and his co-conspirators installed other devices (generally either pinhole cameras or keypad overlays) to record the keystrokes of bank customers as they entered their identification numbers to access their bank accounts.
After enough customers accessed the ATM, Rusu and his co-conspirators removed the skimming devices.
They then transferred the illegally obtained information from the skimming devices and pinhole cameras to counterfeit payment cards, according to officials.
Finally, they visited other ATMs with the counterfeit cards to obtain cash from the skimmed bank accounts before the bank or the customers became aware of their illicit conduct.
Under his plea agreement, Rusu admitted that he and his co-conspirators caused losses of $364,419 in Massachusetts and $75,715 in New York (totaling $440,134 from 531 individual accounts), in addition to losses in New Jersey of $428,581.