ATM fraudster jailed for 18 months

Saturday 17 November 2018

A 24-year-old who was found with equipment to steal credit card data, as well as three cloned from the US, Germany and Saudi Arabia, has been jailed for 18 months by the Royal Court, and could face deportation at the end of his sentence.

Raul Calin Pintean appeared in Royal Court yesterday facing two counts of “going equipped to steal."

Attorney General Robert MacRae QC told Court that Pintean was stopped by Customs Officers at Elizabeth Terminal on 22 June after arriving from Portsmouth with a male childhood friend. 

In his car, officers found a number of items and tools, including cloned cards from the US, Germany and Saudi Arabia, a credit-card shaped metal plate with a magnetic strip glued at its end, a card with sandpaper glued to it and a piece of metal with a hook. Download cables and lights used to light up false ATM fronts were also found in the car. 

Pictured: Officers found three cloned cards in Pintean's car.

DS Russell Chinn of the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) based in London was asked to examine photographs of the items seized in Pintean’s car. He said he was certain some of the items were “solely for the use of ATM skimming", adding they had “not other possible plausible cause.”

He explained that card skimming is a method of stealing payment card details from “unsuspecting card holders.” It is usually done by placing equipment that can read the data on the magnetic stripe of a card over or in the card slot of an ATM. A camera is then installed in the ATM to capture the pin when the customer enters it. Once obtained, the “skimmed” data is downloaded and placed onto a blank card that can then be used with the pin to withdraw money.

During his interview, Pintean explained that he had travelled to Jersey with a childhood friend for a five-day holiday. He said that the items found in the car belonged to a friend who had used his car and that he knew nothing about them. He did admit owning the laptop retrieved from the car, and claimed that he only used the sandpaper card and the hook to scratch things or pull things out. Pintean explained that the £190 officers found in his glove box was for fuel and travelling and that he didn’t keep it in his wallet because of his gambling problems.

On Pintean’s laptop, officers found card details and a number of covert videos showing people entering their pin into cash machines. They said that a man with a wallet and jacket similar to Pintean’s could be seen in some of the footage. DS Chinn said that the videos showed card skimming equipment being installed and removed from ATMs.

Searches of Pintean's phone revealed a number of conversations in Romanian indicating his involvement in other skimming offences in the UK.

Pictured: HM the Attorney General, Robert MacRae QC, recommended a two-year prison sentence.

Pintean eventually pleaded guilty in Royal Court, assuring he had been working alone and that his friend had not been involved. 

Concluding, the Attorney General said that Pintean had brought “a complex and highly professional equipment” that could have helped him obtain money from islanders. He described it as a well-planned organisation and recommended a two-year prison sentence, as well as Pintean’s deportation.

Pintean’s lawyer, Advocate Michael Haines, urged Court to instead opt for a sentence of up to 15 months. 

He argued that, while the prosecution said Pintean could have used his equipment on the island, there was no evidence to support those claims.  He also denied that it was Pintean that appeared in the laptop footage.

He told Court that Pintean had travelled to London at the age of 21 and had worked in construction, six days a week and sometimes over 12 hours a day, for over two years. He then returned to Romania for an operation and was advised to not return to work. He therefore stayed in Romania with his grandparents.

Returning his sentence, the Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq QC, who was sitting with Jurats Charles Blampied and Collette Crill, said that Pintean had not been simply opportunistic, but had specifically planned his visit to Jersey with equipment to read cards.

He acknowledged his guilty plea but said that Pintean had only been cooperative “relatively late in the day.” However, he added that Pintean’s reference gave the Court “a different way of looking at his character.”

He sentenced Pintean to 18 months in prison and recommended his deportation at the end of his sentence.