Romanian police officials recently announced they arrested 20 individuals belonging to an alleged gang accused of manufacturing and selling skimmers placed on ATMs to capture the information off of payment card magnetic stripes, according to local press reports.
The gang allegedly had unauthorized access to a computer system, possessed card-cloning equipment and distributed fake electronic-payment devices, according to the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism.
Police raided locations in the city of Craiova, where the gang allegedly made the ATM card skimmers. Police also found materials used for building the skimmers at six locations in Bucharest. The gang allegedly sold the devices to other fraudsters, or gang members in Italy, Germany, Sweden or Romania used them.
Officials said most of the criminal activity occurred in Craiova.
In a separate case, the same Romanian police unit arrested in Brasov five individuals believed to be members of a separate gang specializing in card cloning. The unit confiscated equipment used to clone cards and skimming devices used at ATMs.
