Romanian national gets prison sentence for ATM skimming | News

Theft of more than $ 106,000 from ATMs in western Pennsylvania via skimming equipment has earned a Romanian national three and a half years federal prison sentence.

Janos Vaczi received the verdict in the US District Court in Erie Monday from Judge Susan Paradise Baxter after a more than two hour hearing about Zoom.

Vaczi, 51, pleaded guilty in April to one case of access device fraud and three cases of serious identity theft for installing skimming equipment at numerous ATMs in Meadville, Erie and other parts of northwestern Pennsylvania.

A skimmer is a card reader that can be disguised to look like part of an ATM. The skimmer attachment collects bank card numbers and PIN codes, which are then used to manufacture counterfeit cards. Skimming is the type of scam that occurs when an ATM is compromised by a skimmer.

According to federal authorities, Vaczi entered the United States illegally in March 2018. As a Romanian citizen, he was also led under the code names Daniel Tudor and Gyula Lakatos.

The FBI accused Vaczi of installing a skimming machine on an ATM at a Marquette Savings Bank in Vernon Township outside of Meadville in May 2019. The data then collected was used to create counterfeit debit cards and steal thousands of dollars from bank accounts in the Meadville and Erie areas, according to the criminal complaint.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Vaczi and unnamed co-conspirators installed skimming devices at numerous ATMs across the region between March 2018 and June 22, 2019 to obtain bank account and personal identity information. The information was put on other cards and then used at various ATMs to illegally obtain at least $ 50,000 from 264 bank accounts in the Meadville and Erie areas.

During the investigation, the FBI searched a locker Vaczi had rented in the Pittsburgh area.

In the locker, the FBI discovered hundreds of cards containing stolen bank account information that enabled Vaczi and his co-conspirators to use the cards at various ATMs to steal funds. Vaczi’s locker also contained $ 10,000, ATM skimming equipment, and numerous fake passports and international driver’s licenses with his picture but different names.

Just before the FBI arrested Vaczi, he tried to bury hundreds of cards with stolen identity information near a grocery store in the Pittsburgh area, officials said. Agents noticed that the ground in the area where Vaczi had stood had been disturbed and discovered the maps shortly afterwards.

In total, Vaczi cheated 350 bank customers, according to Christian Trabold, the US deputy attorney who was prosecuting the case.

Vaczi is a “professional international criminal”, Trabold told the court when sentenced on Monday. “He went to the United States to rip off the Americans.”

Trabold had demanded a prison sentence of up to nine years for Vaczi.

Andrew Lipson, Vaczi’s federal defender, had requested a prison sentence because Vaczi had been held in Erie County Jail since his arrest in June 2019.

Before the conviction, Vaczi apologized to the court through an interpreter.

“I have no words to say how much I regret what I did,” he said.

However, Baxter was unmoved and said she was “not confident” that Vaczi was honest with investigators, including about his identity.

“White-collar crime is not taken lightly by the law or this court,” she said.

The judge ordered Vaczi to serve 18 months for access device fraud, followed by two years in prison for each of three serious identity theft charges. However, Baxter ordered the jail term for the three increased identity theft numbers to be served at the same time.

In addition, Vaczi must serve a total of three years of supervised release or probation after his release from prison.

Baxter also asked Vaczi to repay $ 106,341.07 to two banks – $ 94,031.32 to Marquette Savings and $ 12,309.75 to Citizens.

Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.

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