New Jersey Police are issuing a warning after they busted an LA man 'defrauding others through the use of a scanning device.
Alexanderu Crisan, 34, of Los Angeles, California, was charged with fraud for the skimming device he installed, according to the Middlesex Police Department. Officers caught him last week and his case will go through the Middlesex Superior Court on July 11.
The store in Middlesex Borough was just one of many businesses across the state where ATM skimming devices were uncovered this year.
Skimming devices were also found on ATMs at stores and banks in Cinnaminson, Galloway, Pennsauken, Nutley, Bayonne, Roselle, and Union, according to authorities. During the winter, the devices were installed at Aldi stores in Roselle and Union, according to NBCDFW .
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The device was spotted by a customer on March 22, as reported by New Jersey 101.5 radio station. Earlier this year, two men were arrested in Westfield, NJ, in connection with ATM skimming device cases. They were charged with installing devices on ATMs throughout the town.
One man is from Anaheim, California, while the other is from Brooklyn, New York. According to Westfield police, they are suspected of stealing $165,500 in the New Jersey area and $142,360 in the Chicago area. However, New Jersey isn't the only state grappling with extensive skimming schemes.
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Just last week, two Romanian men in Pensacola, Florida, were handed 18-month prison sentences for stealing bank card numbers in 2023, according to the United States Department of Justice.
According to a press release from the United States Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Florida, Ion Halmac, 35, and Marian Vasilache, 45, received their sentences after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal bank card numbers, possession of bank card skimming equipment, and possession of bank card numbers.
"These cases demonstrate the success of cooperative investigations by federal and local agencies working to identify and arrest those attempting to profit from fraud and theft," United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Jason R. Coody told WKRG .
"The protection of our citizens' financial information is paramount, and with the help of our law enforcement partners, we will hold criminals accountable, no matter their national origin."
When police caught them speeding in Florida and searched their vehicle, troopers discovered card skimming equipment, blank cards, and a laptop containing over 3,000 bank card numbers.
Skimmer devices, which have been around for over a decade, work by reading the magnetic stripe on the back of a credit card and often use a tiny pinhole camera to capture a user's pin.
In another harrowing case, three men were arrested in Tarrant County, Texas on June 14, following a string of alleged criminal activities. Mihai Florin Marienscu, 37, Nelu Nae, 36, and Mihai Vlaicu, 47, are facing multiple charges related to organized crime and illegal use of electronic communications.
"As soon as we learned that these suspects were traveling into Texas, they were here less than a week total before an arrest was made," stated Roberts. The trio is accused of installing skimming devices across Tarrant and Dallas County and are suspected in several skimmer investigations spanning multiple states.
Meanwhile, in Delaware, the Georgetown police department reported that they had found a credit card skimming device at the Dollar General on East Market Street.
"It takes no time to place these things on there. Typically two people, you get somebody to distract the main associate, and then another person just snaps a device over top of the other one," explained Lt. Joel Diaz of the Georgetown Police Department, "It is typically placed over top of the original credit card machine, mimicking the machine itself. A lot of times it's difficult to tell unless you're really paying attention."
This discovery followed the unearthing of another skimming device at a Dollar General in Felton on Thursday. "So we're communicating with our partners in law enforcement to determine if this is isolated or if this is something specific to dollar generals. And if that's the case, then why," questioned Lt. Diaz.
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