14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, the US Department of Justice unsealed charges against six Romanians and one Albanian for their alleged role in a multimillion dollar international cyber fraud operation.
The individuals, led by Romanian national Nicolae Popescu, are fugitives, so the FBI has released wanted posters and Interpol has issued red notices in order to facilitate their apprehension.
In addition to Popescu, the other suspects are Romanians Daniel Alexe, Dmitru Daniel Bosogioiu, Ovidiu Cristea, Dragomir Razvan, and an individual known by the names of “George Skyper” and “Tudor Barbu Lautaru.” The Albanian national accused of taking part in the operation is Fabjan Meme.
Six other individuals accused of being involved in the scheme were arrested in December 2012.
According to US authorities, the cybercriminals set up advertisements for cars, boats, motorcycles, and other high-value items on websites such as Cars.com, eBay.com, CycleTrader.com and AutoTrader.com. In addition, they created phony auto dealership websites.
The items, which didn’t actually exist, were priced between $10,000 (€7,500) and $40,000 (€30,000).
The fraudsters made high-quality fake passports that members of the conspiracy used to open US bank accounts. They tricked potential buyers into paying them by sending them fake invoices apparently coming from reputable companies such as PayPal and Amazon.
These messages instructed victims to transfer money to certain accounts owned by the cybercrooks.
“Using forged documents and phony websites, for years Popescu and his criminal syndicate reached across the ocean to pick the pockets of hard working Americans looking to purchase cars,” said US Attorney Loretta E. Lynch of the Eastern District of New York.
“They thought their distance would insulate them from law enforcement scrutiny. They were wrong. By now, Popescu and his band of fugitives have seen their co-conspirators brought here to account for their crimes,” Lynch added.
“Today’s actions place them squarely in the sights of our partners in international law enforcement. We will not stop in our efforts to find these fugitives and bring them to justice for the crimes they have allegedly committed against our citizens. ”