JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – A Romanian man was sentenced in Mississippi in connection to a multi-state card skimming scam.

Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R-Miss.) said on August 12, 2025, Bogdan Gabriel Radu, 23, was sentenced to 15 months in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons on one count of illegal possession, production or trafficking in device-making equipment.

According to investigators, Radu is the third and final defendant to be sentenced in this card skimming scam case.

“This scheme reached across state lines to steal sensitive financial information using skimmer devices attached to the credit card readers we use in stores every day,” said Fitch. “Thanks to the diligent work of our Cyber Fraud Task Force, we were able to stop all three Romanian nationals from stealing Mississippi taxpayer dollars intended for our some of our State’s most vulnerable citizens.”

Radu was also ordered to pay a total of $85,640 in restitution for stolen SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. Upon release, he will be deported from the United States.

Investigators said Radu could be seen on surveillance video at various stores throughout Mississippi placing skimmer devices on card-reading machines. Stolen data that can be traced back to the skimmer devices in Mississippi was used as far away as New Jersey and Pennsylvania. These included SNAP benefits, which provide financial assistance to low-income families to supplement their grocery budgets.

In June 2024, the Attorney General’s Office began receiving reports about the discovery of skimmer devices at various stores in central Mississippi. The Attorney General’s Cyber Fraud Task Force began investigating leads that would ultimately determine the location of more than 15 installed skimmers throughout Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana.