Man Faces 5-Year Jail Sentence for ATM Skimming Scam

One of three people who orchestrated an "ATM skimming" scheme in 2011 in which 500 bank accounts were compromised, leading to losses totaling more than $336,000, has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison.

According to a US Department of Justice press release, Ahmet Cilek, 43, a citizen of Turkey last residing in Levittown, N.Y., was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 62 months of imprisonment for his participation in an ATM skimming scheme across southern New England.

As part of his sentence, Cilek was ordered to make full restitution, jointly and severally with his co-defendants. Cilek has been detained since his arrest in Darien on June 20, 2011. On April 9, 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between February 2011 and July 2011, Cilek, Mehmet Aydin, Gabriella Graham and others conspired to install “skimming” devices on automated teller machines (“ATMs”) at 11 banks—including one in Greenwich—and one credit union in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The devices were able to capture the information encoded on the magnetic strips of bank cards used by ATM customers.

The co-conspirators also placed devices on the ATMs that contained hidden pinhole cameras, which recorded the personal identification numbers that bank customers keyed into the ATMs to gain access to their accounts, according to the U.S Attorney's office. The co-conspirators used the stolen information captured by the skimming devices and pinhole cameras to create counterfeit bank cards that allowed them to withdraw funds from the customers’ accounts.


Aydin and Graham also pleaded guilty and have been sentenced to 59 months and 45 months of imprisonment, respectively.

This investigation was conducted by the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, which includes members of the United States Secret Service, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Connecticut State Police, and the Greenwich, Hartford, Stamford, Shelton and Stratford Police Departments. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly specifically recognized the efforts of the Greenwich Police Department, Darien Police Department, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Office of Fraud Detection and National Security, and U.S. Secret Service in Boston and Providence for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution of this matter.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.