News

Canadian police arrest two suspected skimmers

October 16, 2003

WINNIPEG, Ontario - Winnipeg police have arrested Costel Bustean, 35, and Anatoli Samouchev, 25, two suspected ATM scam artists from eastern Canada.

"They were more than likely going to be setting up a project here, and thank goodness our commercial crime unit was able to stop them before it got underway," said Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Shelly Glover.

According to a report in the Winnipeg Sun, an investigation was launched Sept. 29 after police pulled over a vehicle with a broken windshield in the city during a routine traffic stop.

The two men in the vehicle were allegedly found in possession of electronic equipment used to scan credit and debit card information -- commonly referred to as "skimming" -- from consumers using ATMs.

Police seized laptop computers containing stolen data, several bogus credit cards, about 30 blank debit cards, a battery-operated pinhole camera and a sophisticated magnetic-strip skimmer.

The men have been charged with trafficking in credit card data, possessing a credit card skimming instrument, possessing a computer tampering device and unlawfully possessing a forged credit card.

An unidentified third man was also being sought.

The men have allegedly pulled off the scam in eastern Canada.

In recent cases across Canada, credit-card skimming has been linked to organized crime. It wasn't known at their arrest whether the two men arrested were involved with any known criminal groups.