Laurentiu Stroie, Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, Pennsylvania 2023

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Two Romanian Nationals Sentenced for Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

In a federal court in Pennsylvania, two Romanian nationals, Laurentiu Stroie and Cosmin Laurentiu Burlacu, were each sentenced to 30 months of imprisonment for their convictions of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced the sentencing on June 8, 2023.

The sentencing took place in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Laurentiu Stroie, 35, was residing in New York City at the time of the offenses, while Cosmin Laurentiu Burlacu, 29, was living in Indianapolis, Indiana. Both defendants are originally from Brăila, Romania.

The investigation was led by the United States Secret Service, with assistance from the Ross Township Police and the Cranberry Township Police. According to information presented to the court, the defendants were arrested on June 8, 2023 after employees of a drug store reported them loitering around an automated teller machine (ATM) located in the store. The employees recognized the defendants from a previous encounter involving a victim who had several unauthorized charges on their credit card at the store.

When approached by law enforcement, Cosmin Laurentiu Burlacu presented a New York State driver’s license in his own name, and Laurentiu Stroie presented a Quebec driver’s identification card in another name. A search incident to arrest was conducted on each suspect, resulting in the discovery of a hotel card key and numerous gift cards on both defendants. The gift cards had abbreviations associated with financial institutions plus a four-digit number consistent with a personal identification number (PIN).

Officers obtained a search warrant for the hotel room the suspects were sharing and discovered numerous items related to ATM skimming fraud, including gift cards/prepaid cards, a ledger containing hundreds of bank identification numbers with corresponding bank names, fraudulent identification cards, ATM skimmers, tools for making skimming devices, fabricated ATM panels with pinhole cameras, a log appearing to show addresses and dates of installation of skimming devices, and $6,180 in cash. The United States Secret Service obtained search warrants for the more than 200 gift cards as well as the electronic storage of various devices, including SD cards, found during the search.

The investigation revealed that the defendants were involved in an ATM skimming scheme, which involves the placement of electronic devices, referred to as skimmers, on ATMs to capture and electronically store the information from the magnetic strip of an ATM card, known as Track Data, without the knowledge of the customer or the financial institutions. The scheme also typically employs a small camera, often referred to as a pinhole camera, to capture the PINs of customers making the transactions.

Assistant United States Attorney Brendan T. Conway prosecuted these cases on behalf of the government. United States Attorney Olshan commended the United States Secret Service, Ross Township Police, and Cranberry Township Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Laurentiu Stroie and Cosmin Laurentiu Burlacu.