A FRAUDSTER who used a card skimming device at a cash machine to steal money from a woman’s bank account has been jailed.

Catalin Abunei was given a 14-month sentence on Tuesday after he admitted targeting a Co-operative Bank ATM near Oxford’s Westgate Shopping Centre.

Richard Moss, prosecuting, said the 24-year-old used a device attached to cash machines to grab customers’ cards, and then photographed their PINs with a small camera.

He said when police arrested Abunei they saw the video footage displayed on the screen of an iPod he was carrying.

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Mr Moss told Judge Zoe Smith in Oxford Crown Court the Romanian was spotted interfering with an ATM by a city centre CCTV operator on October 8 this year.

He said Shona Richie had her card swallowed by the machine and then Abunei used her recorded PIN to steal £90 from her account.

Lucy Ffrench, defending, said her client had lost his passport and was trying to raise money for a new one.

But Judge Smith said it was a mean offence that could potentially cause a lot of disruption to people’s lives.

She said: “This sort of fraud can leave someone like Miss Richie without money, without a card and it can be extremely difficult for them to get home.”

She jailed him and told him to pay a £100 victims’ surcharge when he is released.


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