Romanian man arrested over ATM skimmer in San Luis Obispo

December 13, 2023

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

For the second time in less than a month, police officers in San Luis Obispo County arrested a Romanian national for allegedly placing a card skimming device inside an ATM.

Over the past several months, thieves have placed skimmer devices in bank ATMs in multiple cities across SLO County. In response, a task force comprised of personnel from local law enforcement agencies has been conducting surveillance operations at locations where thieves have placed skimmers, according to the San Luis Obispo Police Department.  

Last Thursday, investigators located a skimmer that had been placed in the ATM at the Bank of America branch located at 1102 Higuera Street. That morning, at 6:45 a.m., a male suspect was observed removing the skimmer device in order to retrieve the information it was harvesting.

Officers contacted the suspect, 46-year-old Doru Marius Parvu, and arrested him. Authorities booked Parvu in SLO County Jail on charges of felony identity theft, misdemeanor possession of a scanning device and three misdemeanor counts of burglary.

Parvu’s bail was originally set at $200,000. It was later changed so that Parvu is being held without bail. 

The operation that led to Parvu’s arrest involved cooperation between SLOPD, the SLO County District Attorney’s Office and the Atascadero and Grover Beach police departments, as well as other local, state and federal agencies. Law enforcement agencies share suspect information and images in order to combat organized crime like the harvesting of information from skimming devices, police said.

Last month, Grover Beach police officers arrested two men from Romania for allegedly placing skimming devices inside ATMs in the South County city. The arrests came after identity thieves targeted the Grover Plaza Bank of America ATM six times over a period spanning late September through mid November.