Thieves Installed Skimmers at Park Slope Hospital: Police

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Police are searching for two men suspected of installing skimming devices at four New York City hospitals, including one in Park Slope, in order to steal private information and create duplicate credit cards.

Between August and November two men installed the devices in ATM machines at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope, police said. The two men also installed devices at Memorial Sloan Kettering and New York Presbyterian on The Upper East Side, and Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens, police said.

The skimming devices helped the men steal private information from 75 people and make duplicate cards that were used to withdraw $46,000 in unauthorized transactions, police told Patch.

One of the suspects is identified as 36-year-old Atanasiu Bogdan-Valentin (pictured above), police said. The identify of the other suspect is unknown, but a picture of the man was taken by an ATM security camera.

Skimmers are devices installed on ATM machines designed to record private information about credit and debit cards such as card and PIN numbers, according to the security blog Krebs on Security. According to Krebs on Security the devices come in a number of different forms and can record the valuable financial information in a variety of ways.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.

Photos: NYPD