Howard Beach Man Pleads Guilty in ATM 'Skimming' Scheme

The Associated Press

A Howard Beach resident has pleaded guilty in a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from New Jersey ATMs by a process known as "skimming."

Bogdan Rusu pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The 39-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison when he's sentenced on July 1.

Rusu admitted installing equipment in ATMs in New Jersey to read customers' card numbers. The numbers were used to create counterfeit cards to make illegal cash withdrawals.

Eleven other defendants have pleaded guilty. Authorities say the scheme reaped more than $428,000.

Federal agents arrested Rusu and his co-defendants at a home in Glendale in December 2016.

“It seems that Queens is ‘Ground Zero’ for this type of operation,” an undercover officer told PIX11 at the time.