HARTFORD, Conn. – A third suspect on Monday pleaded guilty to an interstate ATM skimming conspiracy that stole credit card data from customers and members of 11 banks and credit unions, including American Eagle FCU, and created counterfeit cards to steal more than $335,000.
Ahmet Cilek, 42, a Turkish national, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Cilek and others conspired to install skimming devices on ATMs in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The devices were able to capture the information encoded on the magnetic strips of bank cards used by ATM customers.
The co-conspirators also placed devices on the ATMs that contained hidden pinhole cameras, which recorded the personal identification numbers that bank customers keyed into the ATMs to access their accounts. The co-conspirators used the stolen information captured by the cameras to create counterfeit bank cards that allowed them to withdraw money from the customers’ accounts.
As a result of this scheme, more than 250 accounts were victimized, and financial institutions have suffered losses of approximately $336,057.64, according to the courts.
Cilek is scheduled to be sentenced July 2.
