Four Sheepshead Bay men have been charged with stealing more than $12,000 using information skimmed from automated teller machines across Southern Brooklyn, according to District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
In the 391-count indictment, the defendants are alleged to have stolen debit and credit card information, bank account information, and personal identification numbers from bank customers by using electronic skimmers as well as video cameras attached to or near bank machines in Sheepshead Bay, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Midwood, between Feb. 12, 2017, and July 17, 2018, according to the district attorney’s office.
The skimming devices allegedly installed inside of the teller machine card reader slots recorded the information encoded on the magnetic strip on the bank cards, according to the indictment.
The defendants also allegedly placed hidden video cameras on or near the machines pointing at the number pads to record when customers were entering their personal identification numbers, the district attorney’s office said.
The defendants then allegedly synchronized the records of the skimmer device with the camera footage by using one of their own cards or a “sync card” to easily align the time of the footage with the data from the magnetic strips.
After retrieving the skimmer devices and video cameras, the defendants later allegedly forged debit and credit cards with the stolen information, and used them to steal at least $12,772 in cash from Chase Bank, according to the district attorney’s office.
Some 183 forged, or re-encoded debit and credit cars, five skimmer devices, three pin-hole cameras, and more $60,000 in cash were recovered from the defendants’ home last month during the execution of search warrants, the office said.
The district attorney said his office would look to hold the defendants accountable for their alleged actions in order to keep financial institutions and their customers safe from such scams.
“These defendants allegedly engaged in an intricate scheme to steal thousands of dollars from financial institutions,” said Gonzalez. “We will now seek to hold them responsible. In Brooklyn, we are committed to protecting our financial institutions and their customers from scams such as this.”
