A pair of Romanian brothers, who are in the U.S. illegally, have pleaded guilty in North Carolina to a nearly $1 million scheme to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which involved the theft of American identities.
Romanian nationals Marian Ovidiu Dumitru, 37, and Catalin Dumitru, 39, have both pleaded guilty to wire fraud, according to Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.
Prosecutors say the pair were members of an identity theft ring between July 2024 and August 2025 that stole the personal information of Americans and used it to apply for SNAP benefits in a number of states. In one case they stole more than $760,000 from the program. They are also accused of using electronic skimmer devices at ATMs, gas pumps, and other locations to steal cash from Americans’ SNAP cards. The stolen info was then transferred to fraudulent bank cards that were used to buy items to be resold on the black market. The bank card scheme also totaled into the tens of thousands of dollars in fraud. At least ten Americans had their identity stolen, causing them extreme hardship, prosecutors say.
The two were reportedly found in possession of the counterfeit bank cards when police arrested them.
The brothers “preyed on some of our most vulnerable citizens,” said U.S. Attorney Russ Ferguson. “They stole benefits from those who actually need them and then resold products bought with those benefits for their own profit. We will use the full force of the federal government to hold accountable those who exploit taxpayer funded programs and victimize citizens on government assistance.”
“The Fraud Division will not tolerate anyone who steals from public benefits programs designed to support Americans in need,” added Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “If you attempt to defraud these programs, we will come after you with the full force of federal law. We are committed to safeguarding America’s tax dollars and the programs they are meant to support.”
The suspects pleaded guilty to wire fraud and face up to 20 years in prison.
The case is part of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to root out and prosecute the billions lost to fraud every year that has until now gone uninvestigated. On April 7, the Trump Department of Justice launched the National Fraud Enforcement Division (“Fraud Division”) to undertake these investigations.
The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
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