California DSS assisted with investigation
“The fact that $22.8 million has been stolen from victim EBT card beneficiaries from January to March 2024 in California is beyond astounding. Local, state and federal investigators work to identify this type of fraud and theft to protect public funds and those who need them.”
– CSLEA President Alan Barcelona
OAKLAND – On April 4, 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that three people have been charged with the use of unauthorized access devices.
Petrica Mosneagu, 44; Ionut Sopirla, 38; and Virgil Tudorascu, 42, all of Romania, were charged with stealing Electronic Benefit Transfer (“EBT”) account information and making fraudulent cash withdrawals at ATMs using that stolen EBT information. The defendants were arrested in a multi-district operation.
According to the public criminal complaints, law enforcement agencies have been investigating EBT theft across California for the past 14 months. The complaints allege that the California Department of Social Services has identified that approximately $22.8 million has been stolen from victim EBT card beneficiaries from January to March 2024 in California. Most of these stolen funds have been obtained by unauthorized ATM withdrawals. The complaints allege that victims of the scheme are largely low-income families who depend on EBT benefits to buy food and other household necessities.
According to the complaints, the defendants allegedly fraudulently withdrew cash with “cloned” cards, which are debit cards, gift cards, or other devices with magnetic strips that have been encoded with information from legitimate EBT cards. The account holders’ account information was primarily “skimmed” at ATMs or point-of-sale terminals. Skimming devices recorded victim account holder account information on the magnetic strips and logged their PINs through keypad overlays. Once skimmed, the victim account holders’ account information was then loaded onto blank or repurposed debit cards, which the defendants then allegedly used to withdraw cash or make purchases.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of ten years in prison on each charge.
These prosecutions are the result of an investigation by the USSS, California Department of Social Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), San Francisco Human Services Agency – Special Investigations Unit, Pleasant Hill PD, Richmond PD, Oakland PD, Berkeley PD, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, Romanian National Police, and U.S. Secret Service Bucharest.
