23 skimmers, 12 grocery stores, two states
Denis Adelin Ionescu, 24, and Ioan Victor Stanciu, 33 — both Romanian nationals unlawfully present in the US — were sentenced on 26 March 2026 to 46 and 24 months in federal prison for installing 23 card-skimming devices at 12 grocery store point-of-sale terminals across Alabama and Mississippi. A third defendant, Marian Catalin Matei, pleaded guilty and awaited sentencing.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $51,000
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Card skimming
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-10
The facts, as recorded
- Denis Adelin Ionescu, 24, pleaded guilty to possession of device-making equipment and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison.
- Ioan Victor Stanciu, 33, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud and was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison.
- Both are Romanian nationals unlawfully present in the United States; both were sentenced on 26 March 2026.
- A third defendant, Marian Catalin Matei, 24, also pleaded guilty to possession of device-making equipment, with sentencing scheduled separately.
- The investigation began in March 2025 after a skimmer was found on a point-of-sale terminal at a grocery store in Ozark, Alabama.
- Further investigation linked the group to 23 skimming devices at 12 grocery store locations across Ozark, Dothan, Alexander City, Eufaula, Bessemer, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, Mobile and Talladega, Alabama, and Gulfport, Mississippi.
- The conspirators retrieved the skimmers, extracted the stolen card and EBT account data, and used it for unauthorized withdrawals and purchases totaling approximately $51,000.
- Restitution was ordered for the full amount of the loss.
Why this case matters
Most skimming cases on this site target banks and their ATMs. This one targets grocery store checkout lanes — ordinary point-of-sale terminals, used for everyday purchases, in nine different Alabama cities and one in Mississippi. It shows how far the same small device travels once a network decides to scale it up: 23 skimmers is not a single opportunistic installation, it is a distribution run.
EBT cards were among the targets
The stolen account data included Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards — the payment cards used to distribute food assistance — alongside ordinary credit and debit cards. The Secret Service has separately flagged EBT skimming as a form of the scheme that disproportionately harms low-income households, for whom a few hundred dollars in monthly benefits is not a minor loss.
Twelve stores, one investigation
The case did not start as a multi-state conspiracy — it started as a single skimmer found at one grocery store in Ozark, Alabama in March 2025. Following the device backward, rather than forward, is what turned one report into charges covering 23 devices across two states.
The caveat
Ionescu and Stanciu pleaded guilty and were sentenced; this is a concluded case for both. Matei’s guilty plea is likewise resolved as to guilt, though his sentencing had not occurred as of this page’s last review.
Sources
- 2 Romanian nationals living in U.S. sentenced in credit card 'skimming' scheme. WSFA 12 News. Accessed 2026-09-10. Supports: The defendants' names, ages, nationalities, sentences, charges, the March 2025 investigation start, the 23 devices at 12 locations across Alabama and Mississippi, the $51,000 loss figure, and the restitution order.