Romanian Woman Gets 3 Years for Scam That Defrauded 12 Elderly Oregon Residents
A 34-year-old Romanian woman, who defrauded 12 elderly Oregon residents and operated the same scam in France and the U.K., was sentenced to three years in prison when she appeared in the U.S. District Court in Portland yesterday.
Rexona Caldararu pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, fraud, and aggravated identity theft. She was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.
According to court documents, Caldararu and co-conspirators memorized the PINs of elderly victims at check-out counters in grocery stores.
Once outside, they would tell their victims that they had dropped cash while walking to their vehicles, and insisted on replacing the money in their wallets. That was when they would remove the debit cards.
Caldararu would then withdraw the maximum possible funds from the victims’ accounts, ultimately defrauding them of $73,500 between the summers of 2023 and 2025 when she lived in the U.S. illegally.
- Summer 2023 / Debit card theft scheme begins.
- Checkout lines / PINs are memorized at grocery stores.
- Parking lots / Victims are distracted with dropped cash claim.
- Jan. 22 / Caldararu pleads guilty in federal court.
- May 27 / She is sentenced to 36 months in prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine A. Rykken.