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BY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
A Brooklyn man charged in a bank scheme that bilked $278,144 from Valley National Banks in Nutley and Belleville, pleaded guilty last week in Newark federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, the United States Attorney's Office said.
Viktor Kafalov, a Bulgarian native, was arrested June 29, 2010 after investigators learned of his bank-skimming scheme that stretched as far away as Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The 28-year-old man admitted that he and his co-conspirators withdrew funds from accounts at various New York City locations in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Long Island as well.
Prosecutors say in September 2008, Kafalov and others stole account and identity information from bank customers by installing a pinhole camera on ATM machines in Nutley and Belleville. The cameras then read and recorded information from the magnetic strips of the ATM cards, sometimes recording bank customers’ keystrokes when they entered personal identification numbers (“PIN”).
The stolen information was then loaded onto blank ATM cards used to make unauthorized withdrawals from at least 348 accounts. In addition to skimming, Kafalov admitted he and co-conspirators placed empty deposit envelopes into the ATMs to inflate the amount of funds that appeared to be available in the pilfered accounts.
Kafalov entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz, and remains jailed without bail. Sentencing is scheduled for July 27. Kafalov faces a $1 million fine and 30 years in prison on the bank fraud charge, and a mandatory, consecutive penalty of two years in prison on the aggravated identity theft charge. However, under federal sentencing guidelines, he will likely receive less prison time, the Associated Press reported.
"Identity theft is a pervasive problem," said Fishman. "Thieves have all they need to take cash right out of victims’ accounts." He advised consumers to be vigilant about their banking habits, and warned sophisticated skimmers that investigators were cognizant of their tricks.
