Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Man stole thousands of dollars from low-income Southern Californians through skimming scheme
KTLA ^ | August 9, 2025 | by: Vivian Chow

Posted on 08/10/2025 6:02:20 AM PDT by artichokegrower

A man was sentenced to prison for stealing thousands of dollars from low-income Southern California residents.

Catalin-Marius Graur, 43, stole the funds by skimming tens of thousands of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards at ATMs, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: atm; california; catalinmariusgraur; ebt; ktla; losangeles; romanian; stickingittotheman; vivianchow
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last
Graur is a Romanian citizen who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2020 but overstayed his visa, prosecutors said


I realize the the liberal California media won’t use the label but he is an illegal alien

1 posted on 08/10/2025 6:02:20 AM PDT by artichokegrower
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Another thieving, illegal alien foreigner/DemonRAT voter.


2 posted on 08/10/2025 6:04:07 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (They brought down the WTC now we're electing them to all government positions in the U.S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

“They’re just escaping oppression.”


3 posted on 08/10/2025 6:09:55 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Probably voted, too.


4 posted on 08/10/2025 6:10:08 AM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

(electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards at ATMs)

EBT cards work at ATM 🏧🏧🏧 machines?


5 posted on 08/10/2025 6:19:20 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

I have a debit card I foolishly used at gas station pumps- the card was hacked twice (I didn’t know how it got hacked till I found out about gas pump skimmers). Lost almost $1000, but when bank investigated, they paid it back thankfully. There were hundreds of purchases to a stupid gaming site where folks could purchase things like avatars, character outfits, stuff like that.

Who the heck would risk going to prison over idiotic gaming avatars?

Anyways, bank Informed me I could get new card and turn it off and on through their website, and get alerts to any activity on the ca4d (I wasn’t aware someone was using my card number for almost a month until I got the n3xt statement, and the hackers had wracked up nearly $1000 in small $2-6 pu4chases at that site- it was unreal, many lu4chases were one right after the other, within minutes.


6 posted on 08/10/2025 6:45:13 AM PDT by Bob434 (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris

Evidently there is a sub program attached to the EBT card called TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). The program isn’t automatic, so people have to qualify for the extra assistance.


7 posted on 08/10/2025 6:45:36 AM PDT by EVO X ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Worse than an illegal alien……he’s a Gypsy.


8 posted on 08/10/2025 6:51:44 AM PDT by Mastador1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bob434

There’s a skimmer that caps over a regular card reader for this purpose

Apparently several of them (models)

They steal a lot very quickly


9 posted on 08/10/2025 6:53:19 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bob434

I hate debit cards. But my bank forces me to take one as part of a savings package. So I set the card’s limit at $1.

No problems. So far, anyway.


10 posted on 08/10/2025 6:55:29 AM PDT by Leaning Right (It's morning in America. Again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

If you find that somebody electronically stole funds from your SNAP card, it is pointless to report the theft to authorities. Because their system has no way to know whether it really was theft or that you are just lying to them. All you can do is change your pin number and take one for the team. And don’t use your SNAP card at any local grocery stores. Use it only at the big chains. This happened to an elderly neighbor of mine.


11 posted on 08/10/2025 6:56:59 AM PDT by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mastador1
He worked with several members of a transnational criminal organization from Romania to carry out the scheme, court documents said.
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves We'd hear it from the people of the town They'd call us gypsies, tramps, and thieves But every night all the men would come around And lay their money down
12 posted on 08/10/2025 6:57:22 AM PDT by artichokegrower
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SaveFerris

THE CARDS ARE NOT JUST FOR FOOD.
THEY ALSO HAVE ACTUAL CASH ON THEM.

GO TO www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4255795/posts

Scroll down to post #34.

A receipt showing EBT balance FOOD STAMPS = $13,401.82
EBT CASH BALANCE = $4498.85

TOTAL ==$17,900.67.

I AM ON SS—TOTAL FOR A WHOLE YEAR==$17,424.00
WAS BORN HERE
WORKED IN USA ALL OF MY ADULT LIFE

THIS INVADER LIVES HIGHER ON THE HOG THAN I EVER DID-—

PRINT COPIES & PASS AROUND TO OTHERS.

PERHAPS IF MORE PEOPLE SAW THESE NUMBERS THEY WOULD BE AS ANGRY AS I AM.


13 posted on 08/10/2025 6:58:50 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: EVO X

I was so busy with college, tech school, the ups and downs of life, career, trying to go to church and maintain my faith for decades....never knew how to work that side of the system

The the 2008 crash came in the midst of other disasters and all-of-a-sudden I’m surrounded by idiots cheering some clown and the crash / Woke politics sidelined me.

Yet I never considered finding out how that all worked; convinced that something normal would return 😕😕😕.

Oops.


14 posted on 08/10/2025 7:00:38 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: ridesthemiles

(THEY WOULD BE AS ANGRY AS I AM.)

Same here.

Which is why I have no use for George W Bush,
Manchurian Candidate Barack Hussein Obama
nor Joe Biden.

And made efforts to oppose Kamala.


15 posted on 08/10/2025 7:04:27 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Mastador1

> Worse than an illegal alien……he’s a Gypsy. <

I don’t know about this particular guy. But I do feel bad for Romania. It gets the blame for things that gypsies do. And gypsies have no loyalty to Romania or any other country.

Side point: According to gypsy folklore, many thousands of years ago the rest of the world was mean to the gypsies. That gives the gypsies the right to steal from the rest of the world.


16 posted on 08/10/2025 7:06:50 AM PDT by Leaning Right (It's morning in America. Again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

I know someone (a disabled vet) who gets EBT. At one point, someone was calling him pretending to be from Trump’s organization. The scammer asked him for his EBT account information so he could sell him some “Trump checks” that woudl be worth $10,000 each. These scammers who prey on the poor are absolute scum. Same with the scammers who prey on the elderly.


17 posted on 08/10/2025 7:09:15 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Skimming tens of thousands of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards at ATMs.

Ain’t technology grand Moe.


18 posted on 08/10/2025 7:18:00 AM PDT by Vaduz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

well, did he steal thousands or tens of thousands?


19 posted on 08/10/2025 7:18:37 AM PDT by catnipman ((A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: artichokegrower

Graur is a Romanian citizen


Gypsy.


20 posted on 08/10/2025 7:23:23 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson