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Three individuals are currently held in Tarrant County Jail, charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and unlawful use of electronic communications.
According to investigators speaking to NBC 5, the charges stem from a prevalent method used by fraudsters to steal money from ATM users.
Despite the common practice of concealing PINs when withdrawing money, financial fraud experts in Texas caution that this precaution may not always suffice.
Jeff Roberts, affiliated with the Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC), which was established in 2022 following legislative action to enhance coordination in investigating organized financial fraud, explained, “We’ve observed an increase in skimming activity across the state.”
FCIC, operating out of Tyler, has been actively involved in recent cases, including the recovery of 26 deep-insert skimmer devices and materials for constructing 13 additional devices.
Skimmer devices, a known threat for over a decade, typically read the magnetic stripe on credit cards and often incorporate a small pinhole camera to capture PIN entries.
The arrests in Tarrant County on June 14 resulted in charges against Mihai Florin Marienscu, 37, Nelu Nae, 36, and Mihai Vlaicu, 47, for their alleged involvement in organized criminal activity and unlawful use of electronic communications.
“Upon learning of the suspects’ arrival in Texas, they were apprehended within a week,” Roberts stated.
Investigators suspect the trio of installing skimming devices across Tarrant and Dallas Counties and are linked to multiple skimming investigations spanning several states.