U.S. Will Try To Have Over 20 Romanian Cyber Criminals Extradited

"Twenty-two individuals have been charged in the United States. The United States will seek to extradite these criminals and the leaders of these criminal organizations to face criminal charges in the United States once they have been processed by the Romanian justice system," Gitenstein told a news conference.

Romanian law enforcement authorities, in collaboration with the U.S. Secret Service and FBI staff working with the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, conducted 117 searches targeting over 100 suspects that defrauded over 2000 victims in the United States of over $10 million.

Members of this organized crime group victimized U.S. citizens in each of USA's 50 states, the ambassador said.

"Often posing as members of the U.S. military, these cyber criminals claimed to have automobiles to sell. They manipulated the trust Americans place in our military to lure well-meaning and unsuspecting people into sending them money to purchase vehicles that did not exist," said Gitenstein.

The chief of Romanian Police, Liviu Popa, and the head of the Department Fighting Organized Crime and Terrorism, Codrut Olaru, said 1000 victims have been heard by U.S. authorities and 1000 others will be questioned. They added damages in this case rise to $20 million and the $10 million mentioned by the ambassador is the sum resulting from evidence found so far.

About 50 people were arrested in this case and prosecutors will require that they be placed under 29-day preventive arrest.

Prosecutors on Thursday searching suspects' homes in Bucharest, Craiova, Targu Jiu, Timisoara, Ramnicu-Valcea, Zimnicea, Alexandria, Resita and Pitesti.

Investigators found suspects defrauded about 1,000 potential buyers of $20 million between 2009 and 2011 by putting up for sale fictitious cars, motorcycles, light boats and electronics on eBay and Craigslist.

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