News

Third fraudster pleads guilty in cross-country ATM caper

Three co-conspirators skimmed data in Europe and then took a US road trip, stopping at ATMs every few miles to withdraw cash using counterfeit cards.

August 20, 2015

Romanian national Zoltan Deak, 39, pleaded guilty Monday to charges that included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Deak will be sentenced on Dec. 7, and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Deak admitted to being part of an international crime ring that placed skimming devices on ATMs, mainly in Europe, and then sent stolen data to co-conspirators in the U.S.

His accomplices, Marius Zegrean, 30, and Alexandru Dragan, 28, of Reading, Pennsylvania, used the data to produce counterfeit cards, and then embarked on a nationwide road trip, stopping every few miles to withdraw funds from the compromised bank accounts.

In June 2013, Deak traveled to the U.S. to participate in the ATM thefts and also help Zegrean place skimming devices on ATMs in the states. As they were returning to Pennsylvania after an ATM-raiding road trip to Florida Deak, Zegrean, and Dragan were stopped by sheriff's deputies South Carolina.

Inside their vehicle, Deputies found approximately $15,000 in stolen funds, 1,704 stolen bank card numbers, and various ATM skimming devices. Police later seized another stolen 2,879 bankcard numbers from Zegrean’s computers, the press release said.

Dragan and Zegrean pleaded guilty in October 2013 and September 2014, respectively, to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Dragan was sentenced to 16 months followed by three years of parole. Zegrean's sentence has been sealed by the court.