3 Illegal Aliens from Europe Plead Guilty to Federal Charges Related to Fraudulent Withdrawal of Benefits Intended for Low-Income People

LOS ANGELES – Three illegal aliens from Europe pleaded guilty today to using information from “skimmed” electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards to clone counterfeit cards and steal funds that the State of California had disbursed to low-income individuals. 

Each of these defendants separately pleaded guilty today to one count of unauthorized use of access devices, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison:

• Ionut Calciu, 31, of Romania;
• Florian Serban, 51, of Romania; and
• Mohamed Hichem El Mabrouk, 35, of France.

The defendants were arrested as part of a multi-agency law enforcement operation targeting the theft of EBT funds in California. All three defendants have been in federal custody since February 2.

During the operation in early February 2025, approximately 70 law enforcement officers began monitoring ATM locations across the Los Angeles area to identify individuals who were making multiple cash withdrawals with cards encoded with information that had been stolen from cards used by the California Department of Social Services (DSS) to provide CalFresh and CalWORKs benefits to qualified recipients.

Authorities made arrests after determining that the suspects making withdrawals at the ATMs were not entitled to access funds that had been deposited into accounts belonging to legitimate EBT beneficiaries.

Calciu admitted in his plea agreement to withdrawing from ATMs at least $31,000 from EBT bank accounts on February 2 without the account holders’ authorization and with intent to defraud two banks of funds within their custody and control. United States District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela scheduled an August 29 sentencing hearing for Calciu.

Serban acted as the driver and lookout while Calciu made and attempted to make illegal ATM withdrawals of EBT funds. United States District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela scheduled an August 29 sentencing hearing for Serban.

El Mabrouk on February 1 illegally withdrew from ATMs $25,480 from EBT bank accounts and, the next day, illegally withdrew an additional $2,420 from EBT bank accounts. El Mabrouk and a co-conspirator jointly possessed at least 32 fraudulently encoded EBT cards. United States District Judge Michelle Williams Court scheduled a September 5 sentencing for El Mabrouk.

DSS detected more than $126.8 million stolen from victim EBT cards in 2024, according to court documents. This fraud has targeted CalWORKs and CalFresh (previously known as “food stamps”), both of which are intended to help low-income individuals purchase food and provide for basic needs.

The investigation has revealed that the fraudulent withdrawal of these benefits is done with “cloned” cards, which are debit cards, gift cards or other devices with magnetic strips that have been encoded with information from legitimate EBT cards. Law enforcement believes at least some of those involved in the fraudulent withdrawals also possessed “skimming” devices that could be used to record personal identification information from victims.

Homeland Security Investigations’ (HSI) El Camino Real Task Force, which includes special agents with HSI and the United States Secret Service, as well as officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, is conducting the investigations in this matter.

A number of law enforcement agencies provided significant support during the early February 2025 operation, including the California Department of Social Services; the United States Marshals Service; the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office; the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department; the Hermosa Beach Police Department; the Baldwin Park Police Department; the Culver City Police Department; the El Monte Police Department; the Inglewood Police Department; the Orange County District Attorney’s Office; and the United States Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General.

Special Assistant United States Attorney Yervant P. Hagopian of the General Crimes Section is prosecuting Calciu and Serban. Special Assistant United States Attorney Robert Quealy of the General Crimes Section is prosecuting El Mabrouk.