Four members of a Romanian gang who targeted more than 60,000 bank customers in a £16million fraud face jail today.
The
criminals fitted spy cameras to the sides of bank machines all over
Britain so they could take down PIN numbers and used miniature skimming
devices to snatch card details.
Gang
members operated from 'factories' across north London and worked around
the clock working out ingenious ways to fleece bank customers.
They
fitted spy cameras to the side of cash machines, rather than the top
panel as favoured by their predecessors, to get a better view of the
keypad so they could get the PIN accurately.
Facing
jail: Florin Ioan Silaghi, 30, Vasile Daniel Pop, 30, Ovidiu Metac, 27
and Adriana Alexandra Turc, 25, (top left to bottom right) ran a
gang who targeted more than 60,000 bank customers in a £16million fraud
The gang even designed a skimming device disguised as a cigarette packet to fool unsuspecting bank users.
They
got away with more than £160,000 - with large sums syphoned off to
Italy, Columbia, Romania, and Panama - and had bogus cards with a street
value of £16million, detectives say.
The
fraud ring was eventually smashed in December last year unit by the
combined might of the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) -
the police sponsored by the banking industry - and the Romanian National
Police.
Florin
Ioan Silaghi, 30, Vasile Daniel Pop, 30, Ovidiu Metac, 27 and Adriana
Alexandra Turc, 25, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey for fraud, money
laundering, and possessing false documents.
'This
case involves an organised crime group participating in a large scale
highly sophisticated and counterfeit bank fraud', said prosecutor
Catherine Pattison.
'It's
a conspiracy to dishonestly represent they are the authorised users of
bank accounts in an attempt to obtain financial gain.'
She
said 60,559 bank cards had been compromised by the gang, according to
computers seized by detectives, including 36,000 in the UK alone.
Nearly 1,000 bank accounts had been raided with £161,607 stolen in total before the gang were stopped on December 11 last year.
Sophisticated fraud: By placing
cameras and skimming equipment on cashpoints they managed to get hold of
the details of more than 60,000 bank customers and cloned cards with a
value of £16m
Raids
on Silaghi and Pop's homes uncovered factories dubbed by police as
'fraudster's utopias' including card skimmers, cards traps, cloned cards
and spy cameras.
Many of the cards found had the number of the stolen PIN written in black marker pen on the back for easy use by the criminals.
Ms Pattison said Silaghi had a laptop containing 930 bank card records which had been downloaded from a skimming device.
'There
was what looked like a cigarette packet, but inside it contained an ATM
skimming device that was logged into the computer and experts found it
worked', she said.
At
the home Metac shared with his girlfriend Turc, cops found more than
5,000 bank records on a computer, as well as a USB stick with 13 hours
of footage from a cash point recording PIN numbers.
'Mr
Pop's fingerprints were recovered from the side panel, supporting the
contention he was involved in manufacturing these devices', said Ms
Pattison.
'He
played a crucial role in the conspiracy, throughout the conspiracy -
his room was being used like Mr Silaghi's, as a make-shift factory.
'His role was significant, as without him others would have been substantially disadvantaged.'
Pop
and Turc were between them linked to more than £19,000 of money
transfers to and from foreign countries, including a string of
transactions to Panama.
DI
Sarah Ward, who led the investigation for the DCPCU, said: 'We are
delighted that with these arrests and convictions we have been able to
completely dismantle a criminal organisation that was stealing millions
from people's bank accounts.
'The
premises we raided really were a fraudster's utopia, with a dizzying
array of machines and gadgets designed to commit serious fraud.'
Romanian gangs are thought to be behind more than 90 per cent of cashpoint thefts in this country.
Bank customers are advised to partially cover the keypad when withdrawing cash.
The sentencing hearing continues today with jail sentences for all four expected to be handed down tomorrow morning.
Silaghi
and Metac, of Kenton Lane, Kenton, northwest London, Turc, of Welldon
Crescent, Harrow, northwest London and Pop, of Kenmore Road, Kenton,
northwest London, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by
false representation.
Silaghi also admitted possessing criminal property, transferring data, and possessing a false ID document.
Metac
also admitted possessing criminal property, two counts of possessing an
article for use in fraud, and possession of false ID documents.
Turc also admitted possessing criminal property, transferring criminal property, and acquiring criminal property.
Pop also admitted possession of an article for use in fraud and transferring criminal property.
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