‘Skimming’ Ring alleged
by CYRYL JAKUBOWSKI
Three Northwest Side men were arrested last week for allegedly using "skimming" devices to steal bank account information from automated teller machines, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and a police report from the 16th (Jefferson Park) District.
Bond was set at $50,000 each by Judge Israel Desierto on Nov. 22, state’s attorney’s office spokesman Stephen Campbell said.
The suspects were identified by the state’s attorney’s office and police as Nikolay N. Bozov, age 43, of the 9400 block of Kelvin Lane, Schiller Park, Yuliyan V. Kehayov, age 40, of the 8700 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue, and Dan C. Stoica, age 26, of the 6100 block of North Maplewood Avenue.
The men are charged with felonies for allegedly continuing a financial crimes enterprise, and Stoica was also charged with possession of a controlled substance after police found him with a bottle of a steroid, Campbell said.
The charges are a result of an international investigation by the Chicago Police Department Financial Crimes Unit, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to police.
Illinois Attorney General Office’s spokeswoman Maura Possley said that the defendants were found to be a part of a fraud ring in which fake debit ATM cards are re-encoded with account information that belong to people in the U.S. and overseas. The men allegedly attempted to access the numbers and access codes of victims to get cash from the machines more than 30 times between July and October, Possley said.
According to the police report, the three men were captured on surveillance cameras cashing out stolen debit card numbers that have been compromised through the use of a skimming device at First Nations Bank, 5757 N. Milwaukee Ave.
