Police in Hilltown Township, Pennsylvania are searching for two men accused of planting skimming devices on ATMs at a Wawa store and other retailers, in a scheme investigators say may have stolen from dozens of customers. One suspect has been identified as Grozea Daragiu, a Romanian national, while a second man remains unnamed as the investigation continues.
The case began on May 5, 2025, when a customer reported finding a small piece of a cloning device on his card after using the Wawa machine. Wawa employees then found a camera device attached to the front of an ATM, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. About a week later, employees discovered a second skimming device on another ATM at the same store.
Hilltown Township Detective James Towhey investigated the incidents and worked with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as the case grew. In August, employees at Quakertown National Bank reported that someone had used cloned cards to withdraw money from victims' accounts, per the outlet's report. Towhey estimated the men could have targeted 50 to 100 customers at the Bucks County Wawa alone.
A Pattern Investigators Have Seen Before
This is not the first time skimmers have turned up at this particular Wawa. In May 2025, store employees and police removed two separate PNC ATM skimming devices from the same location six days apart, according to FOX 29 Philadelphia. The store's ATMs are part of Wawa's long-standing partnership with PNC Bank, which has offered surcharge-free withdrawals chainwide since 1996, per the Credit Union Times.
Investigators say the suspects in this case did not limit themselves to Bucks County. Police allege the men targeted the Hilltown Township Wawa along with 7-Eleven and CVS stores in three other Pennsylvania counties, and that they drove rental cars from New York between locations, the outlet's report notes.
A similar scheme surfaced in nearby Bristol, Pennsylvania in August 2026, when authorities arrested a 38-year-old Florida man and sought a second suspect after store employees caught them installing card skimmer overlays at a grocery store, according to CBS News. In that case, the suspects reportedly worked in tandem to distract staff while installing keypad overlays targeting low-income EBT cardholders.
Romanian Networks and Federal Crackdowns
In the Hilltown case, investigators say the suspects used rental vehicles to travel between target cities and installed skimming devices and a camera. In October 2024, two Romanian nationals were sentenced in federal court in Pittsburgh to 30 months in prison each for bank fraud after installing ATM skimmers and pinhole cameras across Western Pennsylvania, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal authorities in that earlier case reported ATM skimmers and cameras.
The U.S. Secret Service estimated in January 2026 that payment card skimming schemes cost American consumers and financial institutions more than $1 billion annually, with federal analysts noting a single device can net fraudsters up to $1 million before being detected. During 2025, the agency conducted 22 nationwide enforcement operations across 9,000 businesses, deactivating 411 illegal skimming devices and preventing an estimated $428.1 million in potential losses, per Payments Dive.
Pennsylvania has already seen its own large-scale sweep this year. In April, a Secret Service-led joint operation in Western Pennsylvania inspected 1,828 card terminals and ATMs, seizing nine illegal skimmers and preventing an estimated $9.4 million in consumer fraud losses, as Hoodline's earlier report detailed.
Potential Charges and What Customers Can Do
Pennsylvania law includes provisions addressing fraudulent use of cloned or unauthorized debit cards, as described in Pennsylvania access-device law. Separate statutory provisions address the production, duplication, or trafficking of card-skimming hardware, including the relevant Pennsylvania statute.
Towhey advised customers not to use an ATM if something does not look right, and to pull or wiggle suspicious parts before inserting a card, alerting the bank immediately if any pieces come loose. Police are asking anyone with information about the two suspects to come forward as the search for the second man continues.
