New York- Federal authorities charged two men in an ATM skimming and identity theft case.
Catalin Lucian Pitut, 28 and Dimitru Predoi, 41, were indicted on charges of possession of access device-making equipment, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The suspects are accused of engaging in a conspiracy to commit “ATM skimming,” a process by which individuals attach concealed pin hole cameras to Automatic Teller Machines and a molded plastic piece containing a magnetic stripe reader over the bank card insertion slot of an ATM. The pin hole camera captures video images of individuals entering their personal identification numbers. The magnetic stripe reader captures the information encoded onto the victim’s bank card. Data from the stripe reader may then be encoded onto blank bank cards, and the video images of the PIN numbers are matched with the counterfeit bank cards.
Authorities say Pitut and Predoi were apprehended after affixing the skimming devices to an ATM located in Broome County.
These indictments followed a lengthy investigation conducted by the Upstate Electronic Crimes Task Force consisting of the Secret Service, Syracuse Resident Office and the Syracuse Police Department along with the Monroe County Sheriff's Department, and the Endicott Police Department.
The defendants are Romanian citizens.
