Alameda County DA charges 3 for alleged EBT fraud scheme
Three people have been charged with allegedly operating a large-scale fraud scheme involving Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, also know as EBT, in Alameda County, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Mate Catalin, 34, Dennis Ionescu, 42 and Maria Tudor, 29, were arraigned Monday for allegedly using EBT cards to withdraw thousands of dollars from the accounts of at least ten people.
Investigators in Fremont allege they caught the trio earlier this month fraudulently using the personal identifying information of multiple EBT card users to take out cash from several ATM machines using cloned cards.
All three are charged with felonies including fraudulent possession of personal information, one count of grand theft, one count of theft by fraudulent access card.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office said the defendants carried out their alleged crimes with "planning, sophistication, or professionalism."
They are accused of using cards that they knew were "forged, expired or revoked" or had account information that had been "altered, obtained and retained" and that the amount of money involved exceeded $950 over a period of six months.
If convicted, each defendant could be facing up to three years in prison, prosecutors said.