U.S. Authorities Warn: Romanian Mob Coming For Your Debit Cards

This is a significant departure from the traditional targets of this scam, which have typically been gas stations and ATMs.

Kimberly Edds, the director of public affairs with the Orange County District Attorney's Office, explains the modus operandi of these criminals. "They’ll have people sitting outside a Walmart or a Target, and it looks like they’re panhandling," she says. "Sometimes they’ll have a couple of kids. And they are actually using Bluetooth technology that’s connected to the skimmers inside the stores. So it's like a two for one, getting cash that people give them and stealing the numbers off the skimmers."

Surveillance footage obtained by the El Cajon Police Department reveals how easily these criminals can install a skimmer over the checkout's credit card swipe. The devices are so well-made that they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Police advise consumers to tug on a credit card swipe before inserting their card. If it wobbles or comes off, it's a counterfeit.

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Despite significant arrests in December and January, which included suspects in the U.S., Europe, and Mexico, the thefts are on the rise. Authorities estimate that these criminals could be making up to $9 million a month, much of it at the expense of taxpayers.

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The skimmers also target EBT card users, draining accounts as soon as the state releases monthly payments. According to Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer's office, this has resulted in thefts exceeding $100 million from taxpayer-funded welfare programs and their recipients.

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"The victims are single mothers struggling to put a roof over their children's heads and food on the table and hardworking people who need a helping hand who find themselves standing at the checkout line with bags full of groceries only to be humiliated when they find that they have no money in their account because a thief has surreptitiously taken everything," Spitzer said. "Meanwhile, the thieves are using this money to fund organized crime, to buy luxury cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and to lead a life of luxury that the true recipients can only dream about."

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The situation is further complicated by the porous southern border, which provides the mobsters with a steady supply of new recruits. Lax bail policies and incomplete criminal records allow members to evade justice if they are arrested.

Edds told Fox News Digital, "Thousands of criminals suspected to be tied to organized Romanian crime have been identified to be in the United States, with a large portion of them entering the United States illegally, mainly through the southern border. A smaller portion of this population is entering as asylum seekers."

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A group of Southern California counties, including Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara, has seen about 15% of the Romanian mob's activity within the US. The criminals are not only sending stolen money back to Romania to fund luxurious lifestyles and purchase European sports cars, but they are also trading in food stamps for baby formula and energy drinks, which are then resold in Mexico in an alliance with local cartels.

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Many of these criminals brazenly flaunt their ill-gotten gains on social media platforms like TikTok. One 14-year-old suspect was caught driving a $250,000 sports car and wearing a Rolex.

Among the men implicated in the plot is Florin Duduianu, who was already on Romania's most wanted list. Duduianu was convicted in January after police observed him making multiple withdrawals using different cards from the same ATM in Placentia, about 30 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. He was found in possession of four Visa gift cards that had been reprogrammed into clones of four different victims' debit cards. Duduianu is expected to receive a 30-year sentence in federal prison later this week, according to the Justice Department.

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In December, the FBI announced a partnership with Romanian police to raid dozens of locations in Romania connected to the California skimming thefts. The joint operation resulted in 48 arrests and the recovery of more than $1 million and 11 luxury vehicles.

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Many of the suspects arrested in Romania also had ties to Mexico's Riviera Maya gang, which is blamed for millions of dollars in skimming thefts in tourist hot spots popular with Americans, including Tulum and Cancun in Quintana Roo. The gang's leader, Florian Tudor, is currently awaiting trial on fraud charges in Mexico and is also wanted for attempted murder in Romania.