Man denies making €10,000+ withdrawals with cloned bank cards

Large amounts of cash withdrawn from Msida ATM using several bank cards

A man from Romania has been remanded in custody after he was charged with making over €10,000 in unauthorised cash withdrawals, using cloned bank cards.

Preprelita Petrisor, 42, of Timisoara in Romania was caught by police Rapid Intervention Unit personnel dispatched to deal with alerts triggered by withdrawals of large amounts of cash from an ATM in Msida. At least €10,000 are believed to have been withdrawn using a number of bank cards, all of which had apparently been cloned. Police are understood to have CCTV footage of the accused as he made the withdrawals.

Petrisor pleaded not guilty to promoting an organization of two or more persons with a view to commit criminal offences, criminal conspiracy, possession of items which could be used for fraud, fraud of over €5,000 and knowingly making use of false documents. He was also accused of unauthorised possession of data, software or supporting documentation.

The court was asked to apply anti-money laundering legislation and confiscate all objects seized by the police.

The Romanian, who said he had no fixed address, told the court he worked as a tour agent. He pleaded not guilty.

Lawyer Chris Chircop, appointed by the court as legal aid to the accused, said he would not be requesting bail at this time.

Inspector Matthew Vella prosecuted.