ST. LOUIS - Five Romanian nationals, who federal prosecutors say came here solely with the purpose of skimming money from your atm transaction, are now going to prison.

“We got one tentacle of the octopus, but there are many, many other tentacles,” federal prosecutor Gwen Carroll said. “It’s an insidious little device because you can’t tell.”

Like an ATM skimmer St. Louis Police discovered in 2024

“I was surprised at how small it is,” Detective Andre Nikolov said at the time.

A picture of a compromised ATM showed it hidden, including where a camera was out of sight, so that criminals could watch someone enter their PIN.

“Unless you happen to be a technician, you’re never going to see it. So, you stick your card in, thinking this is just the ATM. No, it is not,” Carroll said.

Mihai Vlaicu, 48, and Mihai Florin Marinescu, 38, were sentenced Friday to two years in prison. They face more charges in other states and then will be deported.

They were working out of a Florissant home that we reported in June 2024 was raided by swat. Three others who were inside have already been sent to prison.

Carroll said, “They work in groups and hubs are operating all over the United States.”

They often pick St. Louis to operate in, like a 2022 bust of Romanian jewel thieves working out of a St. Charles B&B. A 2021 bust by Arnold P.D., involved Romanian sleight-of-hand thieves that netted hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Prosecutor Carroll says the current Romanian crime pattern is focusing on those skimmers that she says are getting harder to detect by the second.

“I’m afraid even if you are the most vigilant, you’re probably not going to be able to catch it on the front end,” she explained.

Watch your bank statements.