Entire Liberty Avenue bank solely used for money withdrawal

Impunity City

Richmond Hill, Queens, N.Y.

 What the hell is up with this bank? For some peculiar reason, NYCB decided to end human interaction customer and teller service at this Liberty Ave. branch back in April and has only made this bank available for ATM service. But only for withdrawals and not deposits. It’s like one of those crappy looking machines you see by bodegas or barstaurants except it’s an entire commercial storefront version of it.

 

More skimming going on

From NBC:

Identity thieves stealing information through ATM skimming devices are increasingly preying on customers in Queens, with reports of skimming incidents quadrupling in a 10-week time period this year compared to last, police say.

The NYPD is posting warning fliers on ATMs in East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and North Corona, showing customers how to spot a skimming device. Skimmers have been found in ATMs at gas stations and convenience stores, and the high-tech devices resemble real cardreaders.

Flushing NYPD officer is a nice guy

From CBS New York:

An NYPD officer came to the rescue Friday after an elderly woman had her car towed.

The car was parked outside the New York Hospital Queens Breast Cancer Center in Flushing, when it was towed away. The officer was called to drive the woman to the tow pound to get her car.

But when police got there, the woman only had checks, and the pound only took cash or credit.

So the officer, Brian Kinkaid, went to an ATM and took out $185 of his own money to help her out.

An unusual crime

From Fox 5:

Police in Queens were investigating an unusual bank robbery on Friday morning.

Someone used a backhoe to break into a Chase bank on 48th Street in the Maspeth section of the borough.

It apparently took place at about 3 a.m. while the bank was closed.

Video from SkyFoxHD showed a wall and door smashed in the front of the building. The backhoe was still sitting in front of the building.

Police say the thief broke in through the ATM vestibule. The ATM was laying in front of the building after the break-in.

Police were still on the scene in the 8 a.m. hour. It was unclear if any money was stolen in the break-in.

Welfare money used to gamble

From NBC:

Tens of thousands of New York welfare dollars have been accessed from ATMs in liquor stores, strip clubs and even Atlantic City casinos, an I-team investigation has found.

The I-team sifted through records of more than 7 million ATM withdrawals in which money was obtained using an Electronic Benefits Transfer card or EBT card.

The cards have essentially replaced traditional food stamps and are supposed to be used by New York's neediest for basic necessities like groceries and diapers.

EBT cards can also be used to access designated amounts of cash via ATM.

The I-team found more than $95,000 withdrawn in Atlantic City over nearly two years, much of it in casinos like the Trump Taj Mahal, Caesar's Palace and The Borgata.

Aside from casinos, the I-team found thousands of dollars withdrawn from ATMs at addresses tied to liquor stores and strip clubs. The most popular strip club for food stamp withdrawals was a gentleman’s club call "Perfection" in Woodside, Queens where welfare recipients hit the ATM 15 times totaling more than $1,000.

Another Queens resident to make the rest of us proud

From Gothamist:

A Romanian man staying in Queens on a tourist visa was indicted for trying to commit identity theft after he allegedly placed skimming devices and cameras at ATMs. The Westchester County DA's office charged Razvan Apostal, 31, with eight counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and one count of unlawful possession of a skimmer device. The police got involved after a customer at a Greenburgh Chase bank noticed the additional camera!

Queens women nabbed for ATM theft in CT

From the Greenwich Post:

Police arrested three New York women for “skimming” ATM machines at local banks, stealing bank card numbers and robbing from individual accounts, including at banks in Greenwich and Darien.

Sabrina Matche, 22, and Nadia Paisci, 48, of Middle Village, N.Y., and Laura Stiuca, 31, of Maspeth, N.Y., were arrested by Greenwich police April 22 as part of an operation for the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force. The task force, which is under the direction of the United States Secret Service, consists of several municipal police departments, including Greenwich, the state police and U.S. postal inspectors. The arrests were made in Darien after a long-term investigation. Police believe these three have used this scam at least 12 times.

According to a police press release, the women engaged in skimming at area banks, including a People’s United branch in Greenwich, placing an electronic device near a bank’s ATM machine that captures credit card information and PIN numbers from customers using the machines. The information, which has been “skimmed” off the cards, is then used to access bank accounts and make unauthorized purchases.

The women were all arrested on a slew of charges including larceny, identity theft, forgery and fraud.

The investigation is ongoing and police had no further comment about the arrests. Ms. Matche, Ms. Paisci and Ms. Stiuca are all being held in lieu of $250,000 bonds and are due to appear in court April 29. Additionally the police report states that Ms. Paisci is considered a fugitive by the New York State Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) and that Ms. Stiuca is in the middle of deportation hearings. Ms. Matche is a legal U.S. citizen who was born in Romania.

Your credit card info may have been stuck in this guy's ass

From the NY Post:

Florin Necula, of Long Island City, Queens, swallowed a black 4 gigabyte Kingston flash drive after Secret Service agents raided his home to bust up a New Jersey-New York bank fraud ring, according to court papers.

Federal agents raided the apartment of Necula and his co-defendants in the case, seizing cell phones and laptops and digital cameras.

But before agents could grab all the evidence, Necula scooped up the roughly inch-long mini-drive and gobbled it up.

Patient feds waited days for the suspect to download the evidence, but the computer drive was jammed in his system as his attempt to obstruct justice, instead obstructed his colon.

"Doctors from the New York Downtown hospital later removed the flash drive because they were concerned that Necula would be injured if they allowed the flash drive to remain inside him," special agent Joseph Borger wrote in an affidavit.

Some unfortunate crime lab technician was still able to retrieve the information.

Necula and three co-defendants were charged with illegally attaching a device, called a skimmer, to bank ATMs in Jersey City and Queens that would allow them to read customer’s debit card numbers. They allegedly stole over $35,000.

Fraud convictions fail to stop crime by illegal alien

Illegal Immigrant Bilked $10,000 from Casino Patrons

EASTON, Pa. (AP) -- Authorities in eastern Pennsylvania say an illegal immigrant from China bilked casino patrons out of as much as $10,000 last month.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli says 56-year-old Shoumin Chai scammed casino patrons who used an ATM at the Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem last month. Surveillance footage allegedly shows Chai offering to assist two dozen people with their withdrawals and double-swiping their cards to access their accounts.

Morganelli says three people have already come forward claiming $1,100 in loses.

Chai, a New York City resident, faces more than a hundred charges. Her bail was increased to $200,000 on Wednesday.

Morganelli says Chai has a history of fraud convictions and was banned from Atlantic City casinos in May. Immigration officials say they have begun deportation proceedings.

ATMs meet their maker at Flushing Meadows

From NY1:

Police recovered four stolen ATM machines from the bottom of a lake in Flushing Meadows Park on Friday.

Authorities said three of the ATMs were stolen in December and January on the Lower East Side.

One suspect, 34-year-old Queens resident Valentin Garcia, was charged with grand larceny of a car, criminal possession of stolen property and criminal mischief.

Garcia was picked up on April 21 when police received a call about a man attempting to dislodge an ATM machine on the Lower East Side.

As police approached Garcia, he allegedly ran and then jumped into the East River. He was captured and arrested.

Police say he helped steal three machines throughout Manhattan in December, March and April.