A gang of three Romanian nationals has been jailed for more than 13 years combined after using a distraction trick at cash machines to steal over £40,000 from elderly and vulnerable victims.
Ionut Matei, 40, Vasile Ciubotaru, 45, and Ramonel Mandache, 51, targeted people inside Halifax and Lloyds Bank branches across England. CCTV captured the men carrying out the scam, which involved one of them dropping a banknote on the floor behind a victim, then tapping them on the shoulder to ask if they had dropped the money.
How the distraction scam worked
While the victim was distracted, another gang member, who had memorised the victim's card number, would swap the bank card for a similar-looking one and flee. The victim was unaware they had been targeted after retrieving their own card from the cash machine, police said.
The offenders then used the stolen card and PIN to make cash withdrawals and purchases, sometimes in excess of thousands of pounds.
Sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court
On Monday, the scammers were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation. Matei, of no fixed abode, was jailed for five years and six months, and was also sentenced for knowingly entering the UK in breach of a deportation order. Ciubotaru, of Balfour Road, Ilford, received four years and eight months, and Mandache, of Henniker Gardens, East Ham, London, was sentenced to three years.
Investigation and impact on victims
Detective Sergeant Stephanie Bland, Senior Investigating Officer for Operation Rages, said that alongside the significant financial losses, the gang's actions had a 'lasting impact' on the victims.
The offences were committed between October 2024 and August 2026, with more than £40,000 stolen from victims across Cheshire, Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and Kent. The gang's actions were investigated as part of Operation Rages by Cheshire Police, a nationwide theft and fraud operation, including offences in Warrington and Widnes.
Detectives established that the offenders would travel across the country, specifically targeting elderly and vulnerable victims using cash machines inside the Halifax and Lloyds Bank branches. The most affected victim lost £11,100 over a period of almost two weeks before discovering they had become the victim of fraud.
Det Sgt Bland added: 'This was a highly organised criminal enterprise that deliberately targeted elderly and vulnerable members of the public for financial gain. Operation Rages was a complex investigation spanning multiple force areas, but in policing there are no borders. And even though a majority of these offences occurred outside of Cheshire, our officers were determined to identify those responsible for these crimes, bring them before the courts, and provide reassurance to victims and the wider public.'
