Man jailed following bank card theft scam carried out with 'military precision'
A man has been jailed for his part in a scam involving the theft of bank cards with “military precision” at cash machines, writes
Costel Tudor (43) was one of three people who distracted a bank customer at an outdoor cash machine before switching his bank card with another card.
The victim only realised his card had been taken when he went to use it the following day.
He went to gardaí who retrieved CCTV footage from around the Bank of Ireland ATM at Ranelagh, Dublin.
Garda Joseph O'Callaghan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the footage showed Tudor and two women together in a group. He said while the victim was using the cash machine one woman placed a €20 banknote on the ground below him.
This woman then tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if the money was his. While he was momentarily distracted, the other woman switched his bank card with a card she had in her hand.
Garda O'Callaghan told Judge Cormac Quinn that the whole thing was extremely organised and carried out in split-second time.
“It was done with military precision,” he said.
He said the footage showed Tudor walking up to the bank machine minutes later and trying out the bank card although he was unable to withdraw cash.
Tudor, from Bucharest, Romania pleaded guilty to dishonestly taking the bank card and to attempting to take cash from the ATM at Ranelagh on October 17, 2015.
He also admitted taking cash amounts from a bank account at locations in Dublin city centre on three occasions on May 21, 2017.
The court heard that in these later cases a woman had her bank card stolen from her purse while she was out socialising in a pub on Dublin's Harcourt street.
She cancelled the card when she realised it was gone but discovered the next day that a total of €845 had already been fraudulently withdrawn.
The cash was taken in three transactions around four o'clock in the morning.
The court heard the bank had since reimbursed her fully.
Judge Quinn imposed concurrent sentences of two and a half years for all the offences. He noted that that Tudor was a married father-of-one from outside this jurisdiction and that he has received no visitors since he was remanded in custody last June.
The court heard none of Tudor's 29 previous convictions for theft offences were committed in this country.
He has convictions from the Netherlands, Finland, Germany and the UK.
Judge Quinn said it was good police work that led to Garda O'Callaghan recognising Tudor from the 2015 CCTV footage, when Tudor was brought into the garda station for a different offence.
Judge Quinn backdated the prison sentence to last June when he went into custody.
