Two illegal Romanian citizens were arrested in Englewood, New Jersey for a scam that allowed them to steal money from ATM’s throughout Bergen County. The two are accused of stealing in excess of $1 million nearby ATM’s. The two alleged thieves were later identified as a 52 and a 34-year-old Romanian citizens. They were charged with conspiracy to commit theft, charged with theft, and also, according to Chief Arthur O’Keefe, charged with credit card fraud.
According to the police chief, these men had as their targets Citibank, and TD bank. They committed their scam over a period of a little less than two months. Their scam consisted of placing devices on the ATMs known as skimmers. These devices allowed them to read the information off of the credit cards or debit cards used at those ATMs. In addition to the scammers, they also installed miniature cameras above the keypad to record the user’s personal identification numbers.
Once they collected information, Ginga and Cotiga would then acquire blank gift cards from local pharmacies, and transfer the information that they had stolen from ATM’s onto these gift cards. They would then take the gift cards along with the ATM pin numbers that they had recorded and uses them to withdraw money from their victims bank account using an ATM machine.
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s office will most likely indicted the defendants as theft in the second degree and credit card fraud of the second degree felony, since the loss accrued is in excess of $75,000. If convicted, each defendant can be sentenced up to 10 years in a New Jersey State Prison on each count. The Law Offices of Jonathan F. Marshall is an experienced Bergen County Criminal Defense Firm, with a long track record of success. If you or someone you know has been charged with a criminal offense we can help. Please contact any one of our Bergen County Offices for a free initial consultation with any one of our eight attorneys.