Over the past few months, the Irvine Police Department’s Investigations Bureau has been investigating a complex county-wide fraud scheme where thieves withdraw Electric Benefit Transfers (EBT) funds shortly after they are deposited into victims’ accounts.
Yesterday, the police conducted a large-scale surveillance operation across Irvine to monitor ATMs.
Detectives observed two men making multiple withdrawals from an ATM near Culver and Walnut. After contacting them, we found they were carrying a lot of money and evidence showing they had made other withdrawals in a nearby city.
Marius Gafei, 41, and Valentin Velicu, 49, of Anaheim, were arrested and booked at Orange County Jail on grand theft and fraud charges. The investigation is on-going.
The last name Gafei is predominantly used in countries such as France and Italy and is most prevalent in France, with 3 occurrences, making it the 144,808th most popular name in the country, according to Nameslook.
The last name Velicu i smost commonly found in Romania, according to Surnam.Es.
By targeting EBT card users these suspects were picking on the neediest people in Orange County.
