Two suspects arrested for involvement in skimming ring impacting NE Florida, SE Georgia

Jacksonville, FL — A two month, multi-agency investigation has ended with the arrests of two suspects involved in a Romanian skimming ring that affected nearly 400 residents across Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.

Specifically, more than 80 Putnam County residents were affected with more than 300 others in areas like Jacksonville, Keystone Heights, Newberry, and into Southeast Georgia.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office plans to release further details on Monday, June 17th, but WOKV has learned the identities of the two suspects arrested.

Arrest reports from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office identify the two as 35-year-old Elena Matei and 18-year-old Plopsor Matei.

Both are facing a variety of charges, from using or possessing a skimming device to bank fraud.

While the arrest reports are heavily redacted, it does show Capital City Bank told investigators they’ve had to reimburse their customers about $46, 360 due to cards being compromised due to skimmers. The reports also show that SunTrust Bank told investigators it is at a loss of $6,230.

The Putnam County Sheriff's Office says in addition to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the US Secret Service, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Clay County Sheriff's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the North Florida Financial Crimes Task Force also helped with the investigation.