Security

Romanian man arrested for alleged cash trapping ATM scheme

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September 5, 2025

Police in Plano, Texas have arrested a Romanian national, Ionut Aurel Iova, for allegedly running a cash trapping scheme.

Cash trapping involves installing a device that prevents an ATM from dispensing cash and then returning later to claim trapped cash, according to a report by Fox 4 News.

Security footage captured a man returning to an ATM to remove the cash trap and take nearly $1,000. Officer Jerry Minton told the news outlet these cash traps "had to be made individually for that brand of ATM machine."

Iova is also wanted in Maryland for banking larceny, in Canada for 56 theft and fraud warrants and in Hungary for alleged drug offenses. He is being charged with installing a criminal instrument and exploitation of an elderly person.