Mexico Arrests Suspected Romanian Boss of ATM Skimming Network | Balkan Insight
A known figure from Craiova, in southwestern Romania, Tudor and his skimming syndicate are thought to have made hundreds of millions of dollars by copying credit card data from tourists in the Riviera Maya, the stretch of coastline on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, where Tudor has legally lived for a decade as a legitimate business person.
Tudor’s lawyer in Bucharest, Robert Bica, confirmed the arrest to the Romanian daily Libertatea. A Mexican judge will now decide on his extradition in the next two or three weeks.
A source from Romania’s organised crime prosecution told the same newspaper that the US authorities are playing a major role in the investigation into Tudor, whose illegal activities in Mexico are said to have targeted thousands of American tourists and were allegedly responsible for some 12 per cent of the world’s skimming business.
A joint investigation by OCCRP and Romania’s RISE Project said Tudor’s network extended to countries in Europe, America and Asia. His mostly Romanian aides use fake cards with data stolen in Mexico to withdraw relatively small sums of money that they then send to Romania in cash or through Western Union.
Once in Romania, Tudor’s relatives and adjutants invest it in luxury residential complexes, which are then legally sold to launder the profits. Tudor also owns several hotels and high end real estate in Cancún, the main city on the Riviera Maya.
The syndicate’s modus operandi has been sophisticated. In 2014, it established a legitimate company in Mexico that supplied cash machines to banks.
The group signed a contract with one of Mexico’s leading private banks, which started using ATMs with skimming devices already installed. This saved the syndicate the trouble and risks of having to mount data-copying devices in cash machines already fixed in public spaces.
On February 4, however, Mexican authorities blocked 79 bank accounts belonging to people who were part of the syndicate, which had developed a cosy relationship with several Mexican politicians over the years.
The Bucharest authorities have also investigated Tudor over the trafficking of thousands of Romanians of Roma origin to Mexico and the US, where they are allegedly sent to steal and beg and apply for asylum in case of arrest, on the basis that they are fleeing ethnic persecution in Romania.
Tudor’s lawyer in Bucharest, Robert Bica, confirmed the arrest to the Romanian daily Libertatea. A Mexican judge will now decide on his extradition in the next two or three weeks.
A source from Romania’s organised crime prosecution told the same newspaper that the US authorities are playing a major role in the investigation into Tudor, whose illegal activities in Mexico are said to have targeted thousands of American tourists and were allegedly responsible for some 12 per cent of the world’s skimming business.
A joint investigation by OCCRP and Romania’s RISE Project said Tudor’s network extended to countries in Europe, America and Asia. His mostly Romanian aides use fake cards with data stolen in Mexico to withdraw relatively small sums of money that they then send to Romania in cash or through Western Union.
Once in Romania, Tudor’s relatives and adjutants invest it in luxury residential complexes, which are then legally sold to launder the profits. Tudor also owns several hotels and high end real estate in Cancún, the main city on the Riviera Maya.
The syndicate’s modus operandi has been sophisticated. In 2014, it established a legitimate company in Mexico that supplied cash machines to banks.
The group signed a contract with one of Mexico’s leading private banks, which started using ATMs with skimming devices already installed. This saved the syndicate the trouble and risks of having to mount data-copying devices in cash machines already fixed in public spaces.
On February 4, however, Mexican authorities blocked 79 bank accounts belonging to people who were part of the syndicate, which had developed a cosy relationship with several Mexican politicians over the years.
The Bucharest authorities have also investigated Tudor over the trafficking of thousands of Romanians of Roma origin to Mexico and the US, where they are allegedly sent to steal and beg and apply for asylum in case of arrest, on the basis that they are fleeing ethnic persecution in Romania.
