More Than $1.7 Million Stolen From ATMs at Alabama Credit Unions

Alabama federal prosecutors alleged six persons conspired to use ATM skimming devices and covert video cameras to steal funds from members of the $1.3 billion Listerhill Credit Union in Muscle Shoals and the $1.3 billion Avadian Credit Union in Hoover.

In less than a month, the suspects stole more than $1.7 million from Listerhill member accounts, according to a criminal complaint that federal investigators filed in U.S. District Court in Huntsville on June 22. The criminal complaint also indicated that the fraudsters allegedly stole at least $93,000 from Avadian ATMs.

A 10-count indictment filed in federal court last week charged Ionut Iamandita, 28, Milena Iamandita, 25, Elena Matei, 18, Florin Matei, 27, Larisa Iordache, 28 and Marius Iordache, 29, with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Five suspects, except for Marius Iordache, were charged with aggravated identity theft, according the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Alabama.

Milena Iamandita pleaded not guilty. The other five suspects are scheduled to be arraigned on July 18, according to court filings.

From February 2023 to June 2023, the suspects participated in a conspiracy that used skimming devices and covert video cameras to steal Listerhill and Avadian members’ account information and then withdrew their funds from ATMs.

The FBI launched an investigation in March when Listerhill employees reported that hundreds of members had unauthorized withdrawals from their accounts at drive-thru ATMs. Listerhill surveillance footage showed the fraudsters allegedly installing the skimmers and cameras on the credit union’s ATMs from February to March.

“On March 25, the fraudsters used the banking information collected through the skimming to conduct unauthorized withdrawals,” according to the FBI’s criminal complaint. “LCU estimated a total loss of approximately $1,756,991 associated with the conduct.”

In June, the fraudsters allegedly targeted Avadian ATMs in the Birmingham and Hoover areas. A credit union employee informed FBI agents that fraudulent transactions occurred and provided surveillance footage of the suspects, which led to their capture and arrest.

More than $93,000 in cash was recovered from Larisa Iordache, and bank cards and a significant but unspecified amount of cash was recovered from Milena Iamandita, according to the criminal complaint.

“Avadian would like to express its sincere appreciation to the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and all Birmingham-area law enforcement officials for working in conjunction with Avadian Credit Union to swiftly identify the perpetrators and bring them into custody,” Avadian said in a prepared statement. “We also appreciate our members’ patience while we worked with law enforcement to rectify the situation. At this time, we cannot comment further on the ongoing investigations into this alleged card fraud. Fraud and scams of many types are on the rise, and we encourage everyone to take every possible measure to protect their identity and their financial information.”

In a pop-up prepared statement to members on its website’s home page, Listerhill said: “Using a debit card with chip and PIN (personal identification number) is the most secure method for accessing your account using our Smart ATMs. Chip cards are encrypted and are constantly being updated, making it much harder for criminals to copy the card or hack member information. Because of the heightened potential for scammers to use personal information gained fraudulently to access member accounts, we will now require the use of physical debit cards at our Smart ATMs, effective immediately.”