ST. LOUIS – A federal indictment accuses six people of installing skimming devices on St. Louis-area ATMs to obtain bank account information from customers.

Among those facing federal charges include

Laurentiu Miguel Ivan, 33

Venera Isabelle Dumitru, 28

Mihai Florin Marinescu, 37

Ianus Nita, 52

Mihai Vlaicu, 47

Nelu Nae, 36

Marinescu, Vlaicu and Nae appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty.

Ivan and Dumitru pleaded not guilty on August 13. A FOX Files report from June identified both as criminal suspects with reported ties to Romanian organized crime.

Nita has not yet been arrested.

According to a federal indictment, all six are accused in a conspiracy to install skimming devices on bank ATMs to steal customer account data and PINs that they then used, or attempted to use, to defraud financial institutions.

The scheme involved installing skimmers at various locations, using cloned cards to withdraw cash, and retrieving devices from compromised ATMs. Law enforcement intercepted one skimming device from an ATM on May 28, preventing any further efforts at theft and leading to several arrests.

“It’s not uncommon for some skimmers to be hidden inside an ATM or gas pump, so there’s no
way for a victim to know. To help protect yourself, review your bank or credit card statements
regularly for unauthorized transactions,” said Special Agent in Charge Ashley T. Johnson of the
FBI St. Louis Division. “You can also avoid a hidden skimmer by not inserting your card.
Instead, go inside to pay or withdraw money with the merchant or teller.”

Ivan, Dumitru, Marinescu are not in the United States legally, while Nita has overstayed his visa, according to court motions seeking to hold them all in jail until trial.

Ivan, Dumitru, Marinescu, Nita and Vlaicu all face federal charges of one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, one count of access device fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft, while Nae faces one federal charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.