Two Romanian nationals accused of $800k ATM card-skimming scheme

Two Romanian nationals have been arrested for their alleged roles in an ATM card-skimming scheme worth more than $800,000.

Two Romanian nationals have been accused of stealing $800,000 from ATMs across Sydney in a cunning scheme.

The Australian Federal Police arrested the men, aged 48 and 41, for their alleged roles in the scheme and they have been charged with money laundering and stealing financial information.

Police allege the men inserted skimmers – thin metal devices – into ATMs that captured the financial data stored on the magnetic strips of bank cards and was accessed upon retrieval.

Using the skimmers, the men are accused of cloning bank cards with the stolen data and defrauding victims of more than $800,000.

The men used skimmers to obtain personal financial information of ATM users and stole $800,000 in the process. Picture: AFP

The skimming scheme was used on ATMs across Sydney suburbs such as Chatswood, Darlinghurst, Burwood and Haymarket, and in the Illawarra suburbs of Warilla, Shellharbour, Fairy Meadow, Warrawong and Berkeley.

The men obscured pinhole cameras on ATM machines to avoid detection, police allege.

Investigations began in April after banks provided intelligence about Sydney ATMs being tampered with.

A search warrant was executed by the AFP at the men’s home in Chatswood and a storage facility in Homebush on Thursday.

The pair were soon arrested and a third man was questioned and released pending further inquiries.

AFP Superintendent Marie Andersson said the card scheme “stole more than $800,000 from hardworking Australians and went straight into the pockets of criminals”.

“These brazen schemes hurt hardworking Australians who are already feeling the financial pinch,” she said.

“The men who were living in Chatswood are scheduled to appear before Hornsby Local Court today charged with money-laundering offences, dishonestly obtaining or dealing in personal financial information and other passport offences.”

It’s alleged hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen in the ATM card-skimming scheme, but the exact figure remains unknown. Picture: AFP

Ms Andersson said the number of alleged victims was unknown but was likely to be in the thousands.

“It’s extremely difficult to detect if an ATM has been tampered, so we encourage (alleged) victims if they see if there’s been some unauthorised transactions in their bank account to financial institutions, go to the Australian cybercrime security website and they will be able to report it through that avenue,” she said

The pair are set to appear before court on Friday to face charges of laundering money worth $100,000 or more and dishonestly obtaining or dealing in personal financial information.

The 48-year-old man was also charged with importing the skimmers with intent to dishonestly obtain or deal in personal financial information.

Meanwhile, the 41-year man has also been slapped with additional passport offences, including possession of a false foreign travel document and submitting false or misleading information to a reporting entity.

Police say if convicted, the men will face a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment for the money-laundering charge and three years’ imprisonment for possession and dishonest use of financial information.