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N.J. police bust Romanian pair in $1M ATM skimming operation

January 15, 2013

Police arrested a pair of illegal immigrants from Romania in Englewood, N.J., on Sunday. Now Constantin Ginga, 52, and Marius Cotiga, 34, sit in the Bergen County jail charged with carrying out a million-dollar skimming operation over the past six weeks.

The men allegedly used skimmed customer data to purchase gift cards, which they loaded with hundreds or even thousand dollars, according to a story at NJ.com. The report said that the two stole $1 million from bank customers' accounts before being caught.

Authorities were alerted when a Citibank employee reported a suspicious man at an ATM on Sunday morning, Police trailed the man (who turned out to be Ginga) to a parked van, where they found Cotiga and arrested them both.

Police also searched the van and found 80 fraudulently obtained gift cards and $10,000 in cash, as well as disguises the men apparently used to avoid being identified on CCTV footage.

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