Three Romanians sentenced in US for hacking fraud

Three men from Romania have been given prison sentences in the United States varying between four and eight years for a fraud scheme worth more than 21 million US dollars.

The group hacked US computers from Romania while sending phishing messages to thousands of victims and then stealing their Social Security numbers and bank account information, the US Justice Department said in a July 23 news release.

The convicted men are Teodor Costea, Robert Dumitrescu, and Cosmin Draghici from Ploiești in southern Romania.

As part of their scheme, the men compromised computer servers in Georgia and elsewhere and installed interactive voice software that tricked people into thinking they were dealing with their own banks, the news release said.