Quantcast

Two Busted For $18,000 Dunkin' Donuts Gift Card Scam

nov1711dunkin.jpg Two Romanian men were busted for allegedly stealing close to $18,000—in one night—from ATMs from a JPMorgan Chase bank in Queens, all thanks to some handy tricked-out Dunkin' Donuts gift cards.

Daniel Gheorghe and Ionel Cristian Popa, both of whom were in New York on journalism visas, were convicted of re-encoding the gift cards with stolen bank account information and using them to take out wads of cash. Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said the two "turned the ATMs into their personal slot machines," and it appears that the two stole account information from customers at several banks, including Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and HSBC. They were busted when cops saw two suspicious characters jamming their pockets with twenties. Authorities later recovered about $17,700 in cash and 66 Dunkin’ Donuts cards from the duo, which would translate to roughly a billion free donuts if they were used for their intended purpose.

“The defendants should have used the Dunkin’ Donuts gift cards to purchase coffee and donuts,” Brown said, adding that "justice has been served," and justice tastes considerably less delicious than a Meat Munchkin. Gheorghe and Popa both plead guilty to third-degree grand larceny and were sentenced to up to three years in prison.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Comments [rss]

  • ohgodkillmenow

    A billion donuts?? Holy sh...

  • GYPSIES......whaddya expect

  • birdtird

    funkin gonuts

  • MattyGC

    "They was busted"

    THEY WAS BUSTED!??! WHEN WAS THEY BUSTED!?

  • hashedz

    No bum that can't speak poifect English oughta stay in this country...oughta be de-exported the hell outta here!

  • PicoPhreako69

    Thems dat gotta ask, don't gets ta know.

blog comments powered by Disqus

send a tip

tips@gothamist.com