Romanian Crime Rings Are Draining U.S. Welfare Accounts

> Reliance by states on antiquated magnetic-stripe technology makes it easier.

This is the crux of the issue. It's really unfortunate how botched the rollout of chip and contactless payments in the US has been, magstripes should have been completely eliminated a decade ago.

Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/how-romanian-crime-rings-are-dra...

This is a fantastic story.

> On a chilly day in March, a twice-deported Romanian national walked into a 7-Eleven in Toledo, Ohio, and secretly affixed a device called a skimmer to a credit card machine, prosecutors say. The man was allegedly part of a California-based criminal crew led by a fellow Romanian nicknamed Piranha.

> The gang’s aim, according to criminal charges, was to steal food-stamp benefits from customers who swiped their government-issued debit cards at the convenience store

The amount of sophistication that these international crime rings have. And that fact that our Government seems to be very sloppy with taxpayer money and prosecuting foreigners commiting crime on our soil.

Like this:

> Last year, a Romanian national was arrested when he tried to re-enter the U.S. in a Mexican ambulance pretending to be an injured American, court records show. Agents suspected he had fake blood on his face. He was charged after federal agents determined the man, who had an economics degree, was part of a group of thieves who used fake cards to withdraw $105,000 in Los Angeles from New York EBT cardholders’ accounts.