Romanian Citizen Faces Computer Hacking Charges in Essex County

A Romanian citizen – arrested and extradited to Essex County to face federal computer hacking charges last year – made his first appearance in Newark federal court on Monday, March 23.

Mircea-Ilie Ispasoiu, 29, of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Romania, was indicted for allegedly orchestrating an international hacking scheme that targeted retailers, security companies, medical offices and individuals throughout the United States.

Victimized companies in the indictment include a Montclair restaurant and a North Brunswick car dealership, in addition to an unnamed “large security firm” that handles background checks and fingerprinting for thousands of job applicants throughout the nation.

Authorities charge that from 2011 to 2014, Ispasoiu used his position as a computer systems administrator at a large Romanian financial institution to hack numerous networks – including several in New Jersey – in order to steal login information, personal identifiers and credit/debit card data.

According to court documents and statements, Ispasoiu installed malware that was able to record key strokes and screenshot images of the victim’s computers. Ispasoiu was then able to send this stolen data to personal email addresses that he controlled and use it to make unauthorized money transfers.

Using this technique, Ispasoiu was able to steal more than 10,000 credit and debit card numbers from one of the victims identified in the indictment, charge authorities.

Ispasoiu faces multiple counts of wire fraud, unauthorized computer access to obtain information, unauthorized computer access that caused damage and aggravated identity theft.

Romanian authorities arrested Ispasoiu in 2014, following an investigation led by the U.S. Secret Service and coordinated with Romanian law enforcement. The Court of Appeal of Bucharest granted extradition in January of 2015, and Ispasoiu arrived in the United States on March 20.