A 29-year-old man will spend more than three years in federal prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from food-assistance recipients using cloned EBT cards.
U.S. District Judge Julie R. Rubin sentenced Florin Serdaru to 39 months in prison on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland announced. Serdaru was also ordered to pay $343,756 in restitution and forfeit $91,873.52.
Serdaru and his co-conspirators attached skimming devices to card readers to steal EBT card data from SNAP recipients in Maryland and other states. They then created cloned cards and used them to buy bulk items at Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale under fake accounts.
Investigators linked Serdaru to wholesale club memberships under aliases including "Florin Florea" and "Alex Stan," which were used for hundreds of fraudulent purchases with more than 370 unique stolen EBT card numbers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The conspiracy caused approximately $343,756 in losses in Maryland alone, and at least 15 victims temporarily lost access to their food benefits and could not buy groceries until their monthly allotments were restored.
Montgomery County connection
The local break in the case came in July of 2022, when Montgomery County Police officers pulled over co-conspirator Fabritio Sardaru after he and another person used cloned EBT cards to purchase baby formula in Howard and Montgomery counties. Officers recovered approximately 353 cans of baby formula from the vehicle.
The Montgomery County Police Department and Howard County Police Department investigated the case alongside the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General.
Two co-conspirators have also been sentenced. Fabritio Sardaru, 22, received two years in federal prison. Maria Roza Tomescu, 22, was sentenced to 28 months.
Why EBT cards are targeted
EBT cards remain among the last widely used magnetic-stripe cards in the country, making them vulnerable to skimming devices. Nationally, approximately $607 million was stolen from EBT accounts in 2025, according to a report by Propel, a benefits-tracking program. Among those whose benefits were stolen, 56% said they skipped or reduced meals.
Nearly 1 million Marylanders use EBT cards to access SNAP and Temporary Cash Assistance benefits. Maryland's Department of Human Services announced plans to transition EBT cards to chip-based "tap and go" technology by 2026 to combat skimming, though it is unclear whether that rollout has been completed.
Residents who believe their EBT benefits have been stolen can file claims through Maryland's Department of Human Services at dhs.maryland.gov/ebt-reimbursement.
