The theft of private account information from California EBT card holders, the creation of unauthorized, cloned cards using the victims’ account information, and the withdrawal of sizable sums of cash from those accounts at ATMs are all alleged to have occurred in this case, according to the prosecution. According to the District Attorney’s Office, this left legitimate cardholders without money in their accounts when they later attempted to make purchases.
Numerous people have been charged, including Nicolae Petrache, 48; Dumitri Florin, 47; Stefan Marin, 46; Marius Gavrilescu and Eduard Bobol, both 45; Cristian Moldova Remus, 43; Viorel Luchian, 41; Nikoli Kostaki, 35; Andreas Graagand, 34; Anca Cretu, 33; Stefan Gunar, 32; Fabi Marconi, 30; Andrei Birau and Nistea Ionutflorin.
According to the DA’s Office, authorities also confiscated $130,000 in cash and more than 300 duplicate EBT cards, which are thought to be worth $400,000 in total.
The allegations were the result of an investigation by the Southern California High Tech Task Force, which is comprised of the Fraud and Cyber Crimes Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Commercial Crimes Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the DA’s Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber Crimes Section. Inspector General’s Office of the Department of Agriculture.
The task force collaborated with a number of financial organizations, including the Global Protective Services Team of Bank of America, the California Department of Social Services, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, and other agencies.
