Security News > 2021 > February > Mexican Politician Removed Over Alleged Ties to Romanian ATM Skimmer Gang
The leader of Mexico's Green Party has been removed from office following allegations that he received money from a Romanian ATM skimmer gang that stole hundreds of millions of dollars from tourists visiting Mexico's top tourist destinations over the past five years.
Jose de la Peña Ruiz de Chávez, who leads the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico, was dismissed this month after it was revealed that his were among 79 bank accounts seized as part of an ongoing law enforcement investigation into a Romanian organized crime group that owned and operated an ATM network throughout the country.
That three-part series concluded that Intacash, an ATM provider owned and operated by a group of Romanian citizens, had been paying technicians working for other ATM companies to install sophisticated Bluetooth-based skimming devices inside cash machines throughout the Quintana Roo region of Mexico, which includes Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
Unlike most skimmers - which can be detected by looking for out-of-place components attached to the exterior of a compromised cash machine - these skimmers were hooked to the internal electronics of ATMs operated by Intacash's competitors by authorized personnel who'd reportedly been bribed or coerced by the gang.
According to a report in the Mexican publication Expansion Politica, the official list of bank accounts frozen by the Mexican Ministry of Finance include those tied to the notary Naín Díaz Medina; the owner of the Quequi newspaper, José Alberto Gómez Álvarez; the former Secretary of Public Security of Cancun, José Luis Jonathan Yong; his father José Luis Yong Cruz; and former governors of Quintana Roo.
In May 2020, the Mexican daily Reforma reported that the skimming gang enjoyed legal protection from a top anti-corruption official in the Mexican attorney general's office.