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Two Romanian men have been jailed today after a card theft ring stole more than $ 75,000 from New Zealanders.
Card skimming kit found in orange sock and seized by Customs. Source: Supplied
Ionut Alexandru Oprescu, 31, and Victor Ionut Ghenadi, 36, were arrested after a courier driver tipped them off in January.
Two packages, which had been declared a “music box” and a “laptop without a hard drive” from London, were seized during the Customs investigation after they were found to be hiding card extraction equipment.
When his Hobson St apartment was raided in January, Oprescu “was caught trying to hide items in the ceiling cavity,” Customs said today.
“We also found a large number of parts, tools and equipment used to make card skimming devices, a fully functional skimming device, blank cards and a card writing machine.”
In addition to the equipment, 122 bank card numbers were discovered, with $ 75,380 stolen from their victims.
A gasoline pump (left) and a Wilsons Parking machine (right) run by the card skimmers. Source: Supplied
Cards were checked at Wilson Parking machines, as well as at prepaid stations at gas stations.
Customs says the men are believed to have ties to international drug unions.
“These men traveled to New Zealand for the sole purpose of committing fraud, and they had no qualms about stealing funds from hardworking New Zealanders,” said Customs Investigations Manager Bruce Berry.
“The two packages that hid the skimming devices were aimed at the homes of innocent occupants, which is a common method used by criminals to smuggle illegal products such as drugs, tobacco and skimming equipment.”
Today, Oprescu was sentenced to two years and five months in prison, while Ghenadi received a three-year prison sentence.
Ghenadi was convicted of money laundering, while both men were also convicted on charges of importing devices for a dishonest purpose, altering documents with the intent to obtain them by deception, manufacturing goods with the intent to facilitate a crime involving dishonesty, and using a I document dishonestly.
