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A Romanian man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield in connection with a multi-state ATM card skimming scheme.

Bogdan Viorel Rusu, 38, of Queens, New York, was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture of $440,130. Rusu pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in September 2018. He was arrested in November 2016.

Rusu engaged in a widespread bank fraud conspiracy that targeted various banks in Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey from August 2014 until his arrest.

To capture the account information, Rusu and/or his co-conspirators installed skimming devices, which surreptitiously recorded customers’ bank account information on the banks’ card-readers at the vestibule door, the ATM or both.

In addition, Rusu and his co-conspirators installed other devices – generally either pinhole cameras or keypad overlays – in order to record the keystrokes of bank customers as they entered their PINs to access their bank accounts. After enough customers accessed the ATM, Rusu and/or his co-conspirators removed the skimming devices. They then transferred the illegally obtained information 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 from 531 individual accounts, and another $428,581 was stolen in New Jersey.