A MAN caught by gardaí manufacturing false ATM bank machines and cards for gangs around the world from his house in Limerick has been jailed for five years.
Sentencing Vitalii Pascari (33) at Limerick Circuit Court, Judge Carroll Moran said the ability shown by him “in these matters is very impressive”.
“He clearly is a brilliant man and I have to compliment him on that, but it is a pity he used brilliance for crime rather than legal business,” Judge Moran said.
Pascari, River Road, Rhebogue, Limerick, pleaded guilty to eight counts of theft and fraud relating to the manufacturing and distribution of ATM skimming devices.
The court had been told that when gardaí raided Pascari’s home in February last year, they uncovered a worldwide ATM skimming operation.
The mastermind behind the illegal workshop constructed the “sophisticated operation” from a box-room inside his four-bedroom semi-detached house. He had been pursued by police services across Europe and the US.
Pascari told gardaí he had been running the operation from his home for a year. He had been shipping false ATMs and ATM parts to clients in Greece, Italy, Hong Kong, South Africa, France and the US. He had told gardaí he had earned about €10,000 from the illegal business.
The items recovered by gardaí included five plastic ATM covers; four laptops; 150 plastic gift shop cards from Debenhams, Dunnes Stores and TK Maxx; spray cans; copper sheets; battery packs; metal strips; mobile phones; cameras and chip devices.
Gardaí also found a portable USB computer memory device containing 13 videos of members of the public typing in their pin numbers at ATM bank machines.
Judge Moran said it was not possible to calculate the loss Pascari had caused to credit card companies, their customers or to businesses. It was also not possible to assess the amount of money Pascari had made.
“It is submitted [by the defence] that he is not a ‘Mr Big’ . . . but there was an amazing level of sophistication in the operation and the accused showed remarkable ability,” Judge Moran added.
He said Pascari was able to make a skimming device for an ATM by working from a photograph emailed to him from clients.
Pascari was very good at electronics and showed an amazing understanding of mathematics.
Judge Moran said the crime “went to the heart of the system of credit card banking” and undermined a system of banking now universally used in the developed world.
The court previously heard that Pascari ordered the parts directly from ATM companies and put together custom-made ATMs for his customers. Gardaí found €4,000 and $5,000 in cash in his home.
At the time of his arrest, Pascari was unemployed but had about €30,000 in his bank account, the court was told.
Pascari was caught when a box, addressed to him and labelled “anti-skimming devices”, was spotted at a DHL depot by Customs and Excise officers attached to the Revenue Commissioners, Garda Brendan Stokes told the court.
He said the “front pieces of ATM machines that were not available to the public were being shipped to the accused’s address”.
Mark Nicholas, defending, said Pascari, after his arrest, had advised Garda fraud officers in relation to other investigations.
“He was very helpful to gardaí,” he said. “He advised them on how the components would operate and how they might fail.”
The judge backdated Pascari’s sentence to February 25th, 2011.