Romanian fraudster who fleeced £420,000 by filming victims entering PINs at ATMs to be deported after serving jail time

Published: 09:44 EST, 12 November 2026 | Updated: 10:00 EST, 12 November 2026 A Romanian fraudster who stole £420,000 by filming victims entering their PINs at ATMs will be deported after he serves his near five-year prison sentence. Toader Berendean, 38, was part of a gang who spied on customers and cloned Italian bank cards to fleece thousands of pounds between August and September 2025. Victims' PINs were recorded on cameras placed on Nationwide ATMs by the gangsters who used the passcodes to replicate cards, Inner London Crown Court heard.Police found card readers, ATM cameras and tampering equipment after raiding Berendean's house. They also found a total of £8,000 in cash. The defendant appeared in the dock but required a Romanian interpreter. Jollyon Robertson, prosecuting, said: 'This was clearly an attack on Nationwide's banking system. Berendean took advantage of a weakness in their system.'Retail cards were being used for high volumes of cash withdrawals. Toader Berendean, 38, was part of a gang who spied on customers and cloned Italian bank cards to fleece thousands of pounds between August and September 2025'They were cloned cards, from multiple issuers and multiple countries.'The prosecution say that this was an industrial processing of stolen data.'Sentencing Berendean, Judge Lynn Griffin said: 'You decided to get involved with this enterprise which essentially harvested data and reprogrammed cards with that data.'You, acting with others, took advantage of weaknesses in Worldwide Bank's operating system.'A police investigation was launched after the bank detected a number of suspicious withdrawals. The judge continued: 'The cards were programmed with banking details that had been stolen from customers. They were essentially cloned cards.'ATM camera videos recorded PIN entries at those cash points. That is how they got the data to reprogram the cards and take money out of the bank.'CCTV evidence obtained showed you and others operating at the cash points during the period of the fraud.'The prosecution is clear that there must have been some inside information that enabled you and your other co-conspirators to perpetrate these frauds.'I am clear that what you did was enabled by very specific knowledge.'But the judge added: 'I find that you did not play a leading role in this offence.'Berendean was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison – after which he may be deported. 'In principle you are liable to automatic deportation,' said the judge.Berendean, of Brent, north-west London, admitted conspiracy to defraud, possession of articles for use in fraud, making or supplying articles for use in fraud and possession of criminal property.