Nassau County police said they caught two men Wednesday using “cloned,” or re-encoded debit cards to steal cash from victims’ bank accounts—a high-tech scheme the suspects allegedly repeated across Long Island.
Detectives watched as Mihai Cristinel, 37, of Van Nuys, Calif., withdrew cash from the Chase Bank on Old Country Road in Dix Hills at 4:28 p.m., then got into a vehicle with a 34-year-old homeless man, Catalin Stefan Neagoe, waiting inside, police said.
Police stopped the duo and found 74 re-encoded ATM cards and $6,160 cash in the vehicle, police said.
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Such cases are often sophisticated operations in which alleged scammers install so-called skimming devices and hidden wireless mini-cameras on bank ATMs to steal victims’ account information and personal information number (PIN).
The stolen account information is later transferred onto blank, or “cloned,” gift cards that alleged scammers use to withdraw funds from victims’ bank accounts or make purchases.
Detectives believe the Cristinel and Neagoe illegally withdrew cash from Chase Banks throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties in recent days and weeks.
Both men were charged with scheme to defraud and 10 counts each of grand larceny and possession of a forged instrument.
They will be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Hempstead.
