ANGELES CITY – Police are now on a manhunt of the two Romanian cohorts of the Italian passport holder who was caught installing at an ATM machine a device and a camera relaying information to a computer capable of reproducing fake ATM cards.
Chief Inspector Romeo Castro of Police Station 4 in Barangay Balibago here identified the suspect as Roberto
de Cecco, 62, who remained in jail at the police station as of yesterday, amid charges of violation of the Access Device Regulation Act, E-Commerce Law, and sabotage filed against him.
Punto tried to interview Cecco, but he spoke neither English nor Spanish. He was able to communicate, though,
his complaint that he had yet to have a lawyer. Castro said Cecco was arrested after he installed a copying gadget and a tiny camera at an ATM machine at Security Bank along MacArthur Highway in Balibago last Saturday.
He was initially questioned by bank security guards who said the suspect had been staying too long at the machine. When a security guard approached him, Cecco was seen immediately pulling out the gadget he seemed to have some difficulty installing.
He was later found to possess a piece of metal which serves as an improvised ATM access device, a tiny camera also known as MAG Stripe reader for ATM card and metal cover for CCTV camera with electronic chip that would transmit data to a computer.
Probers said that Cecco did not resist arrest by the police, but noted that a black Hyundai Tucson with plate mark RMZ- 124 apparently boarded by his two Romanian accomplices drove off at the time Cecco was being arrested. Two more suspects who reportedly acted as guards fled on foot.
Investigators later learned from the suspect the identities of his companions as Gyorgy Sandor Varro and Marian Grama, both Romanian tourists. The three had been staying at La Belle Helene Townhouse on Mount Makiling Street, Plaridel 1, in Barangay Malabanias here. They had reportedly already paid their rent for the next six months.
Townhouse administrator Leonides Cabico allowed investigators to inspect the rented unit where they found more electronic gadgets used for ATM machine operations.
