Costel Alecu, Online Auction Fraud, Ohio 2022

Akron, Ohio - In a shocking case of online deceit, Romanian national Costel Alecu, 38, of Bucharest, Romania, was sentenced to more than five and a half years in prison on September 7, 2022 by U.S. District Judge John R. Adams for his role in an international online auction fraud scheme.

The scheme, which targeted victims in the Northern District of Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, resulted in a combined loss of approximately $3 million USD.

Alecu, along with codefendant Madalin Ghinea, 35, of Alexandria, Romania, were part of a conspiracy that devised a scheme to entice victims to purchase items online, including vehicles and other high-value items, that did not exist and to obtain the personal identifying information of their victims.

As part of the scheme, Alecu and other conspiracy members created accounts on various auction websites to post advertisements for goods that did not exist. In certain cases, Alecu and others created and used fictitious websites, email addresses and other forms of communication that contained counterfeit trademark information designed to convince their victims that the advertisements were genuine.

Alecu and others in the conspiracy then used a network of money launderers and money mules to obtain payment from their victims and transfer the funds overseas. They used the stolen personal identifying information of their victims, credit cards and bank accounts to launder money overseas and fund the operation of their network by purchasing items such as virtual private networks and domain names.

Romanian authorities arrested Alecu and Ghinea in March 2021. Ghinea was sentenced on June 1, 2022, to more than four years in prison and ordered to pay $450,000.00 in restitution for his role in the scheme.

Alecu was ordered to pay a special assessment of $12,000 with restitution to be determined at a later date.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/romanian-national-sentenced-prison-role-international-online-auction-fraud-scheme