Baytown credit card skimming: Second suspect appears in court
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - An accused credit card skimmer appeared in a Harris County courtroom on Friday facing multiple charges of financial theft.
Court documents say that 22-year-old Rafael Rafaila is facing charges for credit card skimming in Baytown and out of state in Indiana. His bond is set for $300,000, but prosecutors want a higher bond of $1,000,000 because of a possible flight risk.
Romanian national Rafaila is accused of using hidden devices to steal customers' credit card information at multiple banks in Baytown.
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"This type of offense is something that targets the hardworking citizens of the United States and of Harris County in particular," said Stephen Driver, the assistant district attorney in Harris County.
Rafaila is facing four charges. Two counts of unlawful interception of an electronic communication, one charge of engaging in organized criminal activity, and another charge of unlawful possession of credit card information.
"What they basically did is they inserted a device to an atm machine that was kind of hidden," said Driver. "If they insert their card into the device that reads their information off the magnetic strip and saves it off to another place."
Police also arrested 25-year-old Prela Miclescu who is accused of placing skimmers on ATMs.
"My family has been scammed before. That’s how I know about it," said Clint Navy, a gas station customer.
While the credit card skimming happened in Baytown, customers in Houston are already taking extra precautions when they swipe their cards.
"I only go inside because of the credit card scammers because that’s the only way I won’t get scammed," said Navy.
Prosecutors said all of the charges are felony-level offenses that range from two to twenty years in prison.
