An IT-ist from Iași helped his cousin to make Revolut and he lost all the money in his account. Damage of over 21,000 lei
A gesture made out of goodwill turned into an incredible blunder for an IT-ist from Iași, who was left without tens of thousands of lei from his account after helping his cousin to activate a Revolut account. The young man who emptied his account later claimed that “he woke up with the money”, not knowing where they come from.
An IT-ist from Iasi was left without tens of thousands of lei from his Revolut account PHOTO: Shutterstock
In October 2019, Andrei Z. met his cousin, Ștefan Petrea, who asked him for help to activate a personal account in the Revolut application. 50 lei were needed for the initial funding of the account, and Andrei Z., professional programmer, agreed to help him. He gave her his bank card details – number, expiry date and CVV code, which Petrea entered into the app.
Following this operation, the card data remained stored in the Revolut application, so that, for subsequent top-ups, it was no longer necessary to enter a security code.
The series of transfers that emptied the account
Close to Christmas, Petrea decided to take advantage of this situation. Using his cousin's card details already saved in the app, he started transferring money repeatedly. On December 22, 2019, he made nine transfers, with amounts between 100 and 1,000 lei, appropriating 2,950 lei. The next day, through eight other operations, he transferred another 3,700 lei.
Transfers continued on December 24, 25 and 31. Each time, the amounts were round, with one exception: the last transfer, worth 2,229 lei, which left Andrei Z.'s account completely empty. In total, within ten days, Petrea made 26 transfers and embezzled 21,279 lei, according to Ziarul de Iasi.
Money, moved through a colleague's account
After transferring the amounts to his own Revolut account, Petrea directed the money to a colleague's account. He told him that the money would come from his mother, who was abroad, and that he could not personally withdraw it because he was a minor. In reality, Petrea had celebrated his coming of age on December 22.
The colleague helped him withdraw the money and handed it to him, receiving 650 lei as a “reward”. The rest of the amounts, with the exception of 2,000 lei for which the transfer remained blocked, were spent on the eMag platform.
Discovery of the theft and intervention of the bank
On December 27, Andrei Z. checked his account and found that almost all the money was gone. Analyzing the statements, he noticed that the amounts had been transferred to his cousin's Revolut account. Until he managed to take action, Petrea transferred the last remaining money.
Andrei Z. initially talked with Petrea's parents, then notified the bank where he had the account, explaining the situation and requesting the cancellation of the transactions. Raiffeisen Bank accepted the request and fully returned the amount of 21,279 lei, and will later recover the damage.
“The money appeared out of nowhere,” claims the defendant
During the prosecution, Petrea initially denied committing any crime. He stated that, after activating the Revolut account, he would have ascertained the existence of a balance of over 20,000 lei, without knowing where the money came from. Investigators found this explanation implausible, as the modus operandi was clearly documented.
Ștefan Petrea was sent to court for illegal access to a computer system and fraudulent financial operations, both in continuous form. In front of the court, he admitted his guilt, which led to a lighter sentence.
The court sentenced him to two years in prison, with the execution of the sentence suspended for a two-year probationary period. The decision is not final and may be appealed.
