Mexico Arrests Suspected Romanian Boss of ATM Skimming Network

Mexican prosecutors have announced the arrest of a man identified in Romania as a key underworld figure, Florian Tudor, suspected of runnning an international skimming operation copying credit card data.

The arrest follows an extradition request from Romania concerning charges of organised crime, extortion and aggravated attempted homicide.

Minutes after the two paragraph arrest statement was issued, the Bucharest media identified the man in question as Florian Tudor, aka "Rechinul", The Shark.

A known figure from Craiova, in southwestern Romania, Tudor and his skimming syndicate are thought to have made hundreds of millions of dollars by copying credit card data from tourists in the Riviera Maya, the stretch of coastline on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, where Tudor has legally lived for a decade as a legitimate business person.

Tudor's lawyer in Bucharest, Robert Bica, confirmed the arrest to the Romanian daily Libertatea. A Mexican judge will now decide on his extradition in the next two or three weeks.

A source from Romania's organised crime prosecution told the same newspaper that the US authorities are playing a major role in the investigation into Tudor, whose illegal activities in Mexico are said to have targeted thousands of American tourists and were allegedly responsible for some 12 per cent of the world's skimming business.

 A joint investigation by OCCRP and Romania's RISE Project said Tudor's network extended to countries in Europe, America and Asia. His mostly Romanian aides use fake cards with data stolen in Mexico to withdraw relatively small sums of money that they then send to Romania in cash or through Western Union.

Once in Romania, Tudor's relatives and adjutants invest it in luxury...