A Romanian national plead guilty yesterday in federal court in Springfield in connection with a multi-state ATM card skimming scheme.

Bogdan Viorel Rusu, 38, a Romanian national formerly residing in Queens, New York, plead guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Rusu engaged in a widespread bank fraud conspiracy that targeted banks in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey from approximately Aug. 3, 2014, until his arrest on Nov. 14, 2016. Rusu and his co-conspirators captured payment card account information from customers as they accessed their accounts through ATMs and then used that information to steal money from the customers’ bank accounts.

To capture the account information, Rusu and/or his co-conspirators installed skimming devices that recorded customers’ bank account information on the banks’ card-readers at the vestibule door, the ATM or both. Rusu and/or his co-conspirators also installed other devices (generally pinhole cameras or keypad overlays) in order to record the keystrokes of bank customers as they entered their personal identification numbers to access their bank accounts. After enough customers accessed the ATM machine, Rusu and/or 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. 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.

As a result of the scheme, $364,419 was lost in Massachusetts and $75,715 in New York (totaling $440,134 from 531 individual accounts), and another $428,581 was stolen in New Jersey.

Rusu has been in custody since his arrest in 2016. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 11.