Feds nab ‘installer’ for $1.5M ATM theft ring

nypost.com
By BRUCE GOLDING
Last Updated: 7:17 AM, January 7, 2012

Call him “The Installer.”

A brazen crook was caught red-handed trying to place high-tech “skimming” devices on two ATMs at an Upper East Side HSBC — helping the feds close in on a massive identity-theft ring that has bilked card users for some $1.5 million, federal officials said yesterday.

Romania illegal immigrant Laurentiu Iulian Bulat was busted at the bank Thursday after he was spotted on video allegedly installing the info-stealing devices.

After seeing the video, bank personnel notified the Secret Service, which sent agents to stake out the bank vestibule at 68th Street and Third Avenue.


Laurentiu Bulat (above) was busted at this Upper East Side bank (below), where a Secret Service agent retrieved the ingenious ATM device that he allegedly installed for a gang to steal customer bank-card info.

Bulat was nabbed when he returned to tinker with the gear, court papers say.

When caught, Bulat was allegedly in possession of a flat-head screwdriver, which authorities say “is typically used to place and remove the skimming devices.”

Thieves employ the electronic equipment — which consists of hidden card readers and tiny pinhole cameras — to secretly record customers’ personal information and passcodes so they can later hack into the accounts and make unauthorized withdrawals.

According to the feds, Bulat — who’s in the United States on an expired visa — served as the “installer” for a ring of criminals that’s targeted at least 40 HSBC ATMs in Manhattan, Westchester and Long Island.

Authorities began investigating the gang last May, and Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said the probe was “very much ongoing.”

“ATM skimmers are high-tech bank robbers,“ Bharara said. “Instead of using a gun and a note, skimmers use fake-card readers and hidden cameras to steal a customer’s information to get to that customer’s money and take it.”

Bulat, who’s being held without bail, was charged with conspiracy and bank fraud, and faces 60 years in prison if convicted.

According to court papers, a Secret Service agent witnessed Balut walking into the vestibule and standing at an ATM inside.

“Balut spent a few minutes at that machine, and his body was up close against the machine with his back to me,” Special Agent Eric Friedman said in a criminal complaint.

“From my observation of him, he did not appear to be engaged in an ordinary ATM transaction,” he said.

“Balut then appeared to repeat this same activity at the second ATM machine. At both machines, he appeared to be standing in a way that was intended to conceal what he was doing,” the agent said.

Friedman busted Balut moments later and found him carrying a Romanian passport and the screwdriver.

Pedro Escandon, a spokesman for the Secret Service’s New York Field Office, said Bulat was believed to be part of a “big ring” of Eastern European crooks that has been operating since at least last year and has likely hit other banks.

HOW THE SCAM WORKS:

1. Balut would allegedly install a hidden magnetic-card reader on bank ATMs to collect and store customer-account numbers as people swiped their cards. He added a tiny pinhole camera to the ATM above the keypad to also record customers’ PIN codes, authorities said.

2. His cohorts would then use the swiped personal information to get access to customers’ accounts and withdraw cash.

3. The gang Balut allegedly worked for is believed to have tampered with at least 40 HSBC ATMs in Manhattan, Westchester and Long Island.

4. The theft ring is believed to have stolen about $1.5 million.

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