Man sentenced to more than six years in prison for installing card-skimming devices on ATMs

CHICAGO (WGN) – A man has been sentenced to more than six and a half years in federal prison for installing card-skimming devices on ATMs in Chicago and New Jersey.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said the card-skimming devices placed on the ATMs were able to steal debit card numbers and PINs from victims.

Florin Nicolae Tarta, 40, and two others reportedly installed the devices on numerous Bank of America ATMs. The devices consisted of a metallic plate affixed with a card reader, memory chip and battery.

Once put into the ATM, the device was able to capture financial account information from users’ cards. Tarta and his accomplices also put a pinhole camera near the ATM’s keypad to record ATM users entering their PINs, according to investigators.

Several days after the devices were installed, authorities said Tarta and the others removed them from the ATMs and used a computer to convert the captured data to magnetic strips on the backs of gift cards.

Tarta and his crew then used the counterfeit gift cards to withdraw cash at various banks and officials said losses from the unauthorized transactions totaled $177,280.

Law enforcement found the hidden camera on an ATM in Westfield, New Jersey in March of 2024 and Tarta was arrested when he returned to the ATM, according to investigators.

Tarta, a native of Satu Mare, Romania, was convicted by a jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago earlier this year on charges of bank fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

On Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, Tarta was sentenced to six years and nine months in federal prison. The two other people working with Tarta, identified as 45-year-old Leonid Grigore Smetanca of Satu Mare, Romania, and 42-year-old Radu Farcas of London, England, pleaded guilty and were previously sentenced in the case.

Smetanca received three and half years while Farcas was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

“Defendant repeatedly engaged in criminal conduct that imposes an enormous toll on the U.S. economy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hayes argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum in Tarta’s case. “Card skimming is a widespread problem plaguing financial institutions and consumers.”