Man wanted on international warrant facing fraud charges, caught with 131 bogus credit cards in Indiana
A Moldovan national is facing multiple fraud charges in Indiana, after police found more than 130 fraudulent credit cards during a traffic stop over the weekend.
Anatolie Cataraga, 41, of Philadelphia, has been charged with four felony counts of fraud, one felony count of identity deception, and one felony count of unlawful possession of a card skimming device.
Shortly after 2 p.m. on Saturday, a Hobart, Indiana, police officer working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration pulled over Cataraga along Interstate 90 in Porter County, after spotting him driving dangerously close to a semi-trailer truck, according to court records.
After questioning Cataraga using a translating device because he is originally from Moldova and primarily speaks Russian, the officer searched his vehicle, and found 131 credit cards, and a wallet containing three passports – one Romanian and two Moldovan – in a hidden apartment behind an air vent.
Multiple card skimming devices also were found in the vehicle.
All 131 credit cards bore the names of someone other than Cataraga and the registered owner of the vehicle. Each card also had four-digit codes written on the back, and when scanned with a card reader, none of them had information matching what was on the physical card.
"The cards in possession were re-encoded cards that are commonly used in identity theft and fraud cases," according to the charges.
Police later learned Cataraga was wanted on an Interpol arrest warrant out of Moldova. He is being held without bail at the Porter County Jail while he awaits trial.
