Florian “The Shark” Tudor, the alleged ringleader of a prolific ATM skimming gang that siphoned a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} from financial institution accounts of vacationers visiting Mexico over the past eight years, was arrested in Mexico Metropolis on Thursday in response to an extradition warrant from a Romanian courtroom.
Florian Tudor, at a 2020 press convention in Mexico during which he asserted he was a legit businessman and never a mafia boss. Picture: OCCRP.
Tudor, a local of Craiova, Romania, moved to Mexico to arrange Prime Life Servicios, an ATM servicing firm which managed a fleet of comparatively new ATMs primarily based in Mexico branded as Intacash.
Intacash was the central focus of a three–part investigation KrebsOnSecurity revealed in September 2015. That collection tracked the actions of against the law gang working with Intacash that was bribing and in any other case coercing ATM technicians to put in refined Bluetooth-based skimmers inside money machines all through in style vacationer locations in and round Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula — together with Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
Comply with-up reporting last year by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Venture (OCCRP) discovered Tudor and his associates compromised greater than 100 ATMs throughout Mexico utilizing skimmers that have been in a position to stay in place undetected for years. The OCCRP, which dubbed Tudor’s group “The Riviera Maya Gang,” estimates the crime syndicate used cloned card knowledge and stolen PINs to steal greater than $1.2 billion from financial institution accounts of vacationers visiting the area.
Final 12 months, a Romanian courtroom ordered Tudor’s seize following his conviction in absentia for tried homicide, blackmail and the creation of an organized crime community that specialised in human trafficking.
Mexican authorities have been analyzing financial institution accounts tied to Tudor and his firms, and investigators consider Tudor and his associates paid safety and hush cash to numerous Mexican politicians and officers through the years. In February, the chief of Mexico’s Inexperienced Celebration stepped down after it emerged that he received funds from Tudor’s group.
That is the second time Mexican authorities have detained Tudor. In April 2019, Tudor and his deputy were arrested for illegal firearms possession. That arrest got here simply months after Tudor allegedly ordered the execution of a former bodyguard who was attempting to assist U.S. authorities convey down the group’s profitable skimming operations.
Tudor’s arrest this week inside the premises of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office didn’t go easily, in line with Mexican information retailers. El Common reports {that a} brawl broke out between Tudor’s attorneys and officers on the Mexican AG’s workplace, and a video released by the news outlet on Twitter reveals Tudor resisting arrest as he’s being hauled out of the constructing hand and foot.
A Mexican choose will determine on Tudor’s extradition to Romania within the coming weeks.