ILIE-SEBASTIAN-LAUR VASILESCU

Ilie-Sebastian-Laur Vasilescu, Birdal Osman, Silviu-Florin Spiridon, and Bogdan Adrian Purgariu are being sought for their alleged roles in a scheme to defraud the recipients of a federal benefits program by installing skimming devices on various points of sale terminals in California in order to unlawfully access the funds in the victims’ electronic benefits transfer or “EBT” card, which works like a debit card. Vasilescu and the other subjects allegedly made and installed skimming devices, often small in size, with the capability to record, store or transmit data. Some of these devices could be installed inside standalone point of sale terminals (a gas station pump or ATM, for example) - out of view of customers - and were designed to intercept data from access devices that were swiped. A very small camera was also attached to point of sale terminals to record customers entering their PIN numbers on the PIN pad. The information recovered from or transmitted by a skimming device could then be used alone or in conjunction with another access device to incur charges or withdraw funds from a victim’s account without the victim’s consent, knowledge, or authorization. During the course of the scheme, it is alleged that Vasilescu and the other subjects requested disbursements totaling more than $220,000 in EBT funds from more than 300 victims' accounts. On April 19, 2023, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Ilie-Sebastian-Laur Vasilescu in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Santa Ana, California, after he was charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.