The judicial authorities in California are alert to an alarming increase in the criminal activity of the Romanian mafia in the American state. Romanian criminals have developed a specialization in bank card fraud, and have recently started using skimming devices even at supermarket payment terminals.
According to the information presented by the American press, three Romanians were accused at the beginning of this month in Oakland of stealing information from the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) social cards. These cards are intended for low-income California residents to use for grocery purchases or cash withdrawals. Petrică Moșneagu (44 years old), Ionuț Șopîrlă (38 years old) and Virgil Tudorascu (42 years old) are accused of stealing EBT information and later using it to make fraudulent withdrawals. According to prosecutors, the victims of these frauds are mostly low-income families. The three Romanians risk a sentence of up to ten years in prison if they are found guilty, according to Antena 3 CNN.
In Southern California, prosecutors from Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties found that approximately 15% of the Romanian mafia’s activity in the United States is concentrated in this region. Mass arrests have been made in international collaboration, including in Mexico, where criminals work with local cartels to sell products stolen from card fraud.
In addition to fraud committed by Romanians, US authorities are also facing an increase in criminal activity based on malware-type computer programs, such as JSOutProx. This backdoor, used to steal confidential data, is associated with the activity of the Solar Spider group, but there are suspicions about the possible involvement of China.
Last year, California lost about $108 million to such skimming operations, according to US media.
Tags: Mafia Romania terrorized authorities California Romanian criminals stole hundreds thousands dollars social cards
