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Hundreds of bank accounts compromised in skimming operation

The operation affected many debit card holders from Putnam County up to Southeast Georgia.

A two-month multi-jurisdiction investigation into a "Romanian skimming ring" that affected more than 300 people along the First Coast netted the arrest of two individuals. 

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office says the North Florida Financial Crimes Task Force (NFFCTF) investigated an alleged skimming scheme conducted by the suspects Elena Andreea Matei, 35, and Plopsor Lorenzo Matei, 18. NFFCTF says the operation began in or before April 2019. 

A financial crimes investigator advised police that 161 debit card numbers belonging to multiple bank customers fell victim from the skimmers. Of the victims, 138 of them were SunTrust customers, leaving SunTrust with a loss of $6,230. 

A Clay County fraud prevention manager told the Clay County Sheriff's Office 73 Capital City Bank customers were compromised via all of the bank's ATMs. Capital City had to reimburse its customers about $46,360, JSO says. 

Over the first couple weeks of June, investigators followed the suspects to multiple ATM locations and observe them as they checked out the functionality of the machine. The instances noted in the police report were moments the suspects came across a non-working ATM. 

All in all, the operation affected many debit card holders from Putnam County up to Southeast Georgia.

Elena Matei and Plopsor Matei were arrested June 10. 

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