Three men are facing many charges after officers discovered a credit card skimming operation inside a Dallas home, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation announced Tuesday.
On July 17, a merchant contacted the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center after discovering a skimmer, alerting authorities to the situation. The next day, officers executed a search warrant on a Dallas house, discovering 115 credit card skimmers, $50,000 in cash, 25 phony IDs, and more than 300 payment cards that had been re-encoded with victims’ account information.
Authorities reported the arrest of three Romanian men, Victor Marian Tecu, Triussa Gabrielle (also known as Ionut Firan Alexandrau), and Gheorge Ciprian Hilitanu, in connection with the bust.
According to a news release from the TDLR, all three have been charged with organized criminal conduct, unlawful interception of electronic communications, tampering with a government document, and fraudulent use or possession of credit or debit card information.
Several organizations helped with the bust, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, North Texas TAG, Dallas Police Department, Euless Police Department, and the US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service.
“Seizing the skimmers, the fake IDS and the payment cards prevented an estimated $23 million in additional potential fraud,” according to FCIC analysts.
