Romanian National Pleads Guilty to Possessing Unauthorized Credit Card Numbers

A 22-year-old Romanian national pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to possessing unauthorized credit card numbers in connection with an Internet "phishing" scheme to collect personal information of individuals and sell it.

On Oct. 6 in Minneapolis, Sergiu Daniel Popa pleaded guilty to one count of possession of 15 or more unauthorized access devices and one count of aggravated identity theft. He was indicted on June 19, 2007, and entered his plea before United States District Court Judge John Tunheim. Popa was extradited to the U.S. from Spain in June.