Romanian National Sentenced in ATM Fraud Case Involving Town Bank

A Romanian national, arrested on bank fraud charges as part of a wide-sweeping investigation that involved the Greenwich Police Department, has been sentenced Friday to nearly four years in jail.

Connecticut’s U.S. Attorney David B. Fein, said that Dragos Osanu, also known as “Lucian Dragos Osanu,” “The Boss,” “Antonio Venturini,” “Rosca Alexandru Osanu,” “Vasile Andrei” and “Osanu Aragos Lucian,” 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for his leadership of a multistate ATM “skimming” scheme that caused more than $200,000 in losses to victim financial institutions.

“This extensive investigation has revealed that this defendant held a leadership role in a conspiracy that raided customer accounts and victimized banks not only in the United States, but also in more than a dozen countries,” according to Fein. “The U.S. Secret Service, Greenwich Police Department, members of the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force and several state and national police departments, particularly the Spanish National Police, should be commended for neutralizing an international fraud ring before it gained more of a foothold here in the U.S.,” Fein said. “Many individuals and financial institutions have been victimized, but without this coordinated law enforcement effort, the damage would have been much worse.”

According court documents and statements made in court, Osanu and others conspired to install “skimming” devices on automated teller machines (“ATMs”), and on card swipe access devices used by banks to control access to ATM lobby doors, in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. The devices were able to capture the information encoded on the magnetic strips of bank cards used by ATM customers.

They also placed devices on the ATMs that contained hidden pinhole cameras, which were positioned in such a way as to be able to record the personal identification numbers that bank customers keyed into the ATMs to gain access to their accounts. The group then used this stolen information to create counterfeit bank cards that allowed them to withdraw funds from the customers’ accounts. About $200,000 was taken illegally, authorities said.

It was those counterfeit cards that investigators claimed Osanu and another suspect, Ion Preda, also known as Mircea Preda, used along with stolen PINs to withdraw cash from compromised accounts using another People’s United Bank ATM in Greenwich in September 2009. “An ATM in Greenwich was not compromised, but was used by participants in the scheme to withdraw money from compromised accounts,” said U.S. Attorney spokesman Thomas Carson.

Which People's bank branch involved was not identified. Carson said Greenwich Detective Mark Solomon played a key role in the investigation.

On Nov. 22, Osanu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. 

The Spanish National Police and other law enforcement agencies have identified a total of approximately 200 suspects, including Osanu, who participated in the international fraud conspiracy traced to 14 different countries. A majority of the suspects have been arrested in Spain and Romania. The investigation revealed that OSANU moved to Queens, NY so he could expand the fraud operation to the U.S.