INDIANAPOLIS -- Police arrested two adults and one juvenile from Romania after finding credit card skimmers during a traffic stop in Hancock County Thursday afternoon.
Officers initially stopped two vehicles, a BMW and a Mercedes, after they observed the drivers committing multiple traffic violations on I-70 in Hancock County.
The BMW was driven by Conte Nistor, 26, of Romania. Inside the vehicle, deputies found a fake Italy ID with Nistor’s name.
The driver of the Mercedes presented police with a fake ID claiming he was a 22-year-old from Italy. After further investigation, troopers determined that the driver was actually a 15-year-old from Romania. A passenger in the Mercedes was identified as Mihai Marian, 19, from Romania.
The crew told police they were traveling to California from Ohio.
Over 300 pieces of evidence recovered from the Mercedes linked the crew to skimming jobs in Indiana, Ohio, Colorado, California and Tennessee.
Deputies seized five complete sets of skimmers and a laptop that contained a reprogramming card reader along with multiple other tools that could be used to make more devices.
The skimmers that were recovered were made with the capability to capture video and magnetic strip data. They were powered by cell phone batteries that were glued onto the device. They also recovered templates of skimmers that were made out of other similar plastic material and could be used to speed up the production process.
All three suspects are facing charges of fraud on a financial institution and unlawful possession of a card skimming device
Multiple search warrants will be conducted as a result of the investigation.
