Queens Man Hacked Local ATMS To Spew Nearly $250K: Prosecutors

QUEENS, NY -- One Queens man who thought he hit the jackpot after rigging local ATMS to spew nearly $250,000 now faces big losses for the alleged crime, prosecutors said.

Eric Salazar Montano, 33, is accused of dressing as technician and tampering with ATMs in Kew Gardens and Elmhurst until they spewed out the cash like a slot machine jackpot, NYPD Police Commissioner James O'Neill said.

The Auburndale man was arrested on Tuesday after an NYPD investigation into the scheme, which Queens District Attorney Richard Brown referred to as "jackpotting."

"As society becomes more tech savvy, today's criminals are keeping pace and finding new ways to enrich themselves illegally," Brown said.

Surveillance video first caught Salazar Montano "jackpotting" a grocery store ATM in Kew Gardens on Dec. 28 with an unknown accomplice, prosecutors said.

Dressed as phony technicians, the two allegedly opened the ATM and messed with it before taking $154,000 in cash that had been dispensed from the machine without using a card, according to a police complaint.

Salazar Montano allegedly struck again two days later, this time tinkering with an ATM inside Queens Center Mall. He is accused of rigging the machine to spew more than $87,000 before he and several other accomplices fled with the money, the complaint states.

Cops recovered a forged credit/debit card and more than $42,000 in cash during a raid of Salazar Montano's home after his arrest.

Salazar Montano was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on charges of grand larceny, computer tampering, criminal possession of a forged instrument and computer trespass. His next court date is set for March 27.

If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Lead photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images