JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – One man pled guilty and two others were sentenced for installing skimmers in Mississippi.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alexandru Ionut Gheorghe, 28, and Marian Aurelian Neacsu, 29, were both sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for possession of device-making equipment. Their codefendant, Bogdan Gabriel Radu, 22, pled guilty to possession of device-making equipment. Prosecutors said all three defendants are Romanian nationals who entered the United States illegally.
According to court documents, beginning on June 21, 2024, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office Cyber Crime Division began receiving reports from various agencies regarding the discovery of skimmer devices being located at various stores in central Mississippi. The Cyber Fraud Task Force began investigating leads that would determine the location of installed skimmers throughout Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.
Prosecutors said Gheorghe, Neacsu, and Radu could be seen on surveillance video at various stores throughout Mississippi placing skimming devices on point-of-sale machines in June and July 2024. They said Gheorghe and Neacsu would install the skimmers while making a small purchase using a gift card, and Radu was primarily responsible for retrieving the stolen data from the skimmers.
Included in the information skimmed or stolen by these defendants were SNAP benefits totaling more than $85,000, for which the defendants will be required to pay restitution.
Radu is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, 2025, and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The Cyber Fraud Task Force offered the following tips to keep your bank card data safe:
- Use terminals that offer tap to pay or chip read capabilities. Avoid swiping cards, if possible.
- Look at the terminal prior to inserting or using your card in relation to other terminals in the store. Do they look the same? Overlay skimmers will add to the overall dimensions of a terminal.