Romanian Gets 57-Months Jail For ‘ATM Skimming’ Scheme

Robert Mate of Romania, who was charged with committing bank fraud and stealing around $5 million from ATMs, has been given a 57-month jail sentence, says the US Department of Justice (DoJ). Mate, along with 15 others, was involved in a high level “ATM skimming” scheme involving several financial organizations and played across many US states including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida.

According to the DoJ, Mate and his accomplices installed sophisticated card-reader devices and pinhole camera panels onto ATMs and captured card data of customers. This data was used to create thousands of fake ATM cards which were then used by the criminals to withdraw millions from customer accounts.

This scheme was orchestrated by another Romanian, Marius Vintila, and one member of the gang is still at large.

Mate will also pay restitution of $7,397,270.

Read more details here.