Romanian man who stole financial data from ATMs gets two years in prison

By Melissa M. Werthmann, Globe Correspondent

A Romanian man was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for attaching a skimming device and pinhole camera to an ATM in Cambridge to steal financial information, federal prosecutors said.

Razvan Pascu, also known as Razvan Anghel, 32, was also ordered to pay $24,215 in restitution and will be on supervised release for one year once out out prison, US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office said.

Pascu plead guilty to aggravated identity theft charges in July, prosecutors said.

Pascu, along with an accomplice, attached a skimming device to an Eastern Bank ATM in Cambridge on April 30, 2011, prosecutors said. The device was designed to capture the magnetic information on the back of debit and credit cards.

Pascu also attached a pinhole camera to the ATM to capture PIN numbers, prosecutors said.

Pascu was part of a larger conspiracy involving scams at ATMs in Massachusetts and Connecticut in March and April 2011, prosecutors said.

The stolen account information was used to create counterfeit ATM cards, which along with the PIN numbers, could be used to make unauthorized withdrawals, prosecutors said. During the conspiracy, skimming devices and cameras were installed at least five separate times, prosecutors said.