Moldovan crooks who stole pin codes from bank card users in central Moscow have been ordered to appear before one of the capital's courts.
Andrei Panichersky, a 26-year-old citizen of Moldova and Bulgaria, and Nikolai Kirov, a 29-year-old Moldovan national, face charges of stealing confidential information from bank cards, the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement.
Panichersky and Kirov face maximum sentences of five years in prison, if convicted.
According to prosecutors, the defendants tampered with an ATM machine outside a bank on Tsvetnoi Bulvar on May 22 and 23 and copied confidential information from 14 different bank card owners.
"The men glued special material onto the ATM machine that allowed them to read information from the magnetic strip on the cards, along with their pin codes," prosecutors said.
The men's plot was foiled thanks to the bank's security services following up on clients' complaints after money disappeared from their accounts.
After police detained the pair, Panichersky and Kirov told investigators that they were planning to sell the confidential information.
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