A Romanian couple involved in ATM card fraud have been given 21 days to leave the country by Judge Pat McCartan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court or face three years imprisonment.
Constantina Stanciu (27) and Robert Ardeleanu (34) had "abused our hospitality", Judge McCartan said after hearing they were found with €27,040 in cash and with gift cards they used in their fraudulent activities.
Sgt Maireád Doyle said the couple electronically encoded Debenhams gift cards with details of bank cards "skimmed" at a restaurant where Stanciu worked under a false name and used the fraudulent cards to withdraw money from ATMs.
Stanciu and Ardeleanu Chapel Manor, Chapelizod, Dublin, pleaded guilty to possession of four Debenhams gift cards encoded with details of payment cards intended for use in connection with theft on June 20th, 2006.
Judge McCartan praised "the good Garda detective work" and said "this offence required a degree of skill and deviousness".
He imposed a sentence of three years imprisonment on both, which he suspended on condition that the pair return to Romania within 21 days and stay out of Ireland for 10 years.
Sgt Doyle told prosecuting counsel Dominic McGinn, that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation received a complaint from AIB that details of several credit cards had been "skimmed" and copied after being used at The Harbourmaster restaurant and bar at the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin.
An investigation was carried out and Stanciu, who gained employment at the restaurant using a false name, was found to be working on each occasion a compromised card was used.
Gardaí searched the house she shared with Ardeleanu and their four-year-old daughter and found numerous cards encoded with the details of genuine payment cards, along with €27,040 in cash.
Sgt Doyle said the information on the magnetic strip of the genuine payment cards had been "skimmed" or copied by a hand-held device when presented by customers in the restaurant.
These details were downloaded to a computer and encoded on to the magnetic strip of another card to withdraw money from ATMs.
Sgt Doyle said the couple initially said they had no knowledge of the "fake" cards but later claimed to be in fear of naming others involved.
Sgt Doyle said Stanciu had one previous conviction for shoplifting and Ardeleanu had two previous convictions for theft.
Patrick Reynolds, defending Stanciu, said she and Ardeleanu were the "vulnerable, expendable bottom of the rung" in this operation and there was "an element of fear and vulnerability".