A Romanian citizen, Nelut Ady Oana, 33, was sentenced yesterday to 15 months in prison for participating in a multistate ATM skimming scheme.
According court documents and statements made in court, Oana and others conspired to install skimmers devices on ATMs and on card swipe access devices used by banks to control access to ATM lobby doors in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.
The investigation revealed that Oana was personally involved in three skimming incidents at Bank of America ATMs in New York, New York and Fort Lee, New Jersey, causing a loss of $16,073 to the Bank. He has been ordered to pay full restitution to Bank of America.
Oana was being detained since his arrest on March 2, 2010, in Virginia, when he and a co-defendant were found in possession of approximately $26,145, five re-encoded gift cards containing stolen bank account information, laptop computers, Bluetooth devices, and tools.
On July 22, 2010, Oana pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Oana faces deportation proceedings after his release from prison.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Connecticut