New Jersey man sentenced in New Mexico to 18 months in federal prison for using 'skimmers' to steal bank card PIN codes at ATMs

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Jersey man was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release following his conviction on fraudulently using counterfeit access devices.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigated the case. 

Michael Silva, 25, of West Orange, N.J., was arrested Sept. 11, 2015, on a 15-count indictment charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft, 11 counts of access-devise fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.  The indictment alleged that from March 7 through April 21, 2015, Silva conspired with others to commit access-device fraud and aggravated identity theft in Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties in New Mexico.

According to the indictment, Silva participated in a conspiracy to use electronic devices known as “skimmers” on Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) to record information encoded on bank cards inserted into ATMs by legitimate bank customers.  These skimmers permitted Silva and his co-conspirators to record Personal Identification Number (PIN) codes and magnetic data recorded from bank cards to create fraudulent bank cards.  They then used the fraudulent bank cards to access the bank accounts of legitimate bank customers.

On Nov. 12, 2015, Silva entered a guilty plea to two counts of access-device fraud.  In entering the guilty plea, Silva admitted that in April 2015 he possessed electronic devices that could be used to unlawfully obtain bank account information and PIN codes from innocent users at ATMs.  Silva admitted using the electronic devices known as “skimmers” to obtain PIN codes and to create fraudulent bank cards.  He further admitted that April 19, 2015, he used two counterfeit bank cards at the ATM at First Financial Credit Union on San Mateo Boulevard in Albuquerque to withdraw $600 in cash from bank accounts without permission from the account holders.

The Albuquerque Police Department assisted with this investigation. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon M. Gerson, District of New Mexico, prosecuted this case.