From March 1-2, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Orange County and its Los Angeles El Camino Real Financial Crimes Task Force, along with multiple law enforcement partners, conducted county-wide operations targeting Romanian organized theft rings and other criminals responsible for conducting numerous unauthorized ATM transactions utilizing counterfeit/cloned EBT cards at various financial institutions in Orange County.
During this operation, ICE and local police identified and arrested 15 individuals for the violation of federal law involving the use/manufacturing of an access device with the intent to defraud.
In addition to the federal arrests, two state arrests were made for subjects involved in EBT fraud.
Approximately 42 counterfeit/cloned EBT cards and bulk U.S. currency were seized following the operation.
The cases were presented to the United States Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California and the District Attorney’s Office for federal and state prosecution.
