SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — While placing one credit card skimmer at a 7-Eleven in Chula Vista, the two Romanian nationals living in San Diego worked in tandem. One distracted the store clerk, while the other quickly placed an overlay skimmer on the credit card terminal
According to federal law enforcement, this scene played out at convenience stores, grocery stores, and ATMs across San Diego County from 2022 to 2025.
Alleged Card Skimming in San Diego County
It was just the first part of the scheme. The suspects, identified in a Dec. 17 federal search warrant as Dorin Mirel Mihailescu, aka “Stefan Holub,” Vasile Liviu Ardelianu, aka “Filippo Caltagerone,” Aurelian Cornel Bucur and Carmen Mihaela Paraschiv, would also install tiny pinhole video cameras at ATMs and other locations to capture cardholders entering their PINs…