FBI nabs two in Romanian fraud ring

A man and woman federal officials claim acted as runners in an international, online bank fraud scheme based in Romania that bilked $3 million from thousands of victims were arrested at a Costa Mesa hotel Sunday night.

FBI agents, with the help of the Costa Mesa police, arrested Hiep Thanh Tran, a permanent legal resident from Vietnam, and his girlfriend, Caroline Tath, a permanent legal resident from Cambodia, Sunday evening in Costa Mesa after the pair were accused in a federal indictment of Internet-based fraud, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Tran and Tath are two of 33 people named in a 65-count federal indictment issued in Los Angeles last week alleging the pair used bank and credit account information culled through Internet scams to manufacture fake debit, credit and gift cards.

The couple was staying at the Wyndham Orange County hotel in Costa Mesa, 3350 Avenue of the Arts, under an assumed name at the time of their arrests, Mrozek said. Law enforcement officials claim the couple communicated via Internet chat sessions with members of a Romanian bank fraud ring, who fed the pair bank and credit card account information gathered through online phishing schemes.

Phishing schemes use the Internet to gather personal and financial information such as names, addresses, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and Social Security numbers. Thieves who perpetuate phishing schemes often send out large numbers of counterfeit e-mail messages that are made to appear as if they are from legitimate banks and other financial institutions. The e-mails direct victims to websites that appear legitimate, but are actually controlled by criminals and are designed to obtain personal information.

Law enforcement officials allege Tran and Tath used victims’ bank account information supplied by the Romanians to re-code magnetic strips on debit and credit cards. Tran, Tath and other members of the ring would then use the cards to purchase goods at stores and cull money from ATMs and cash registers, according to the indictment. The couple and the other members of the ring would keep a percentage of the profits and wire the rest back to their associates in Romania, the indictment claims.

Investigators found evidence the couple actively communicated with people in Romania at the time of Tath’s arrest in the couple’s hotel room at the Wyndham Sunday, Mrozek said.