14 DAY TRIAL // Four individuals have been indicted in New York for running a credit card skimming operation that netted them more than $1.5 million during the past year.
Mihail Draghici, Ionel Dedulescu, Didi Theodor Ciulei and Laurentiu Mugurel Manta were indicted Monday in Manhattan on multiple counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Draghici, Dedulescu and Manta are all Romanian nationals, while Ciulei has Austrian citizenship; although, judging by his name, he is also of Romanian descent.
Ciulei and Manta were arrested at the end of May in Chicago, while Draghici and Dedulescu were arrested last year in December while trying to board an international flight out of Miami.
The gang is accused of installing skimming devices at Citibank and JPMorgan Chase branches in the New York City area, Miami, Chicago, and elsewhere, between March 2010 and May 2011.
The suspected fraudsters used several skimming methods including replacing ATM PIN pads with identical-looking ones designed to record key presses and send the data remotely.
Another method used was to fit fake PIN pad overlays over the real ones. In both cases, devices designed to record information on the card magnetic stripe were also fitted over the ATM card readers.
This information allowed perpetrators to create fake copies of the credit cards and use them to withdraw money. The fraud is estimated at at least $1.5 million.
"Skimming is a devious form of high-tech robbery that threatens the integrity of our financial institutions and the privacy of banking customers," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. [pdf]
"Today's Indictment deals a significant blow to one alleged skimming ring, and along with our partners at the Secret Service we will continue to pursue and prosecute the perpetrators of these schemes," he added.