The Riviera Maya Gang: Global ATM Bandits
The criminal group stole card numbers and copied them onto new blank cards, which were given to gang members to withdraw cash from ATMs around the world.
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A Romanian-led organized crime group scammed an estimated $1.2 billion using a network of rigged ATMs in some of Mexico’s most famous tourist hotspots.
A Romanian gang rigged ATMs to skim $1 billion, and funneled the cash into real estate in at least four countries.
Starting in the early 2000s, a Romanian man built an international people-smuggling network that laid the groundwork for a dangerous transnational crime group to steal around $1.2 billion in one of the largest skimming operations in the world.
How the Riviera Maya gang used media campaigns and ties to people in power to protect themselves.
Most investigations of transnational criminal networks follow a known group or commodity such as the Italian Camorra, Chinese triads, or rhino or elephant poachers. By having a focus on key actors and commodities, much falls outside the attention of investigators.
OCCRP's co-founder Paul Radu answered readers' questions on an investigation into a Romanian criminal syndicate that we’ve dubbed the “Riviera Maya gang,” which made over $1 billion from rigged ATMs, mainly in Mexico.
As the seemingly endless legal case of one alleged key lieutenant drags on, we investigate the gang’s operations and investments in the poorly policed border area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
A former member of the Riviera Maya gang was stabbed in Mexico by his onetime comrades. The Mexican prosecutor who led the investigation didn’t even look into them as suspects. Now, it turns out, they may have been paying him off.