Woman with convictions in four countries jailed for facilitating international fraud

By Sonya McLean

A woman with previous convictions across four different countries has been jailed for two years after she set up eight bank accounts using fake identifications to facilitate an international fraud.

Dana Maria Popovici (35) has convictions for aggravated money laundering, forgery, drug offences, falsifying documents, counterfeit payments and shoplifting from Germany, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands.

She was brought to Ireland from the UK to face these current charges on foot of a European Arrest Warrant last June and has been in custody since pending sentence.

The investigating detective told Aoife McNickle BL, prosecuting, that Popovici, who is fluent in English, Italian and Spanish, used false Italian identification and a false Romanian driving license to set up a total of eight bank accounts

He said that a total of €168,148 went through these eight bank accounts between 2016 and 2019.

He said the fraud was carried out by an organised crime group and was a complex international scam involving the selling of machinery or vehicles online that were never delivered, in addition to a scam involving bogus communications purporting to be from Revenue.

The detective said the garda investigation focused on the bank accounts that were opened in Ulster Bank, Allied Irish Bank and KBC.

The documentation provided included addresses and phone numbers which led to gardaí securing a warrant to search a property.

That search led to the discovery of various pieces of equipment used in the manufacturing of fake identifications including scanners, guillotines and plastic coverings.

The detective said that in November 2018, gardaí were notified that Popovici had been arrested in Finland, together with a member of an organised crime gang. Gardaí suspected Popovici was responsible for opening the various bank accounts.

The warrant was secured for her arrest and in May 2023 she was extradited to Ireland from the UK to face these charges.

Popovici pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four charges of using false identification to open bank accounts on dates between October 2016 and October 2018.

The money that went through those bank accounts came from all over the world, but three Irish victims were identified in a Revenue scam in which almost €10,000 was stolen.

The detective agreed with John Moher BL, defending, that this would have been a complicated case to prosecute, so his client’s pleas were of significance.

He accepted that Popovici’s claim that she received €500 per bank account that she opened was probably true and acknowledged that she “didn’t accumulate any wealth herself due to these offences”.

Mr Moher said his client’s “gain” was quite limited and handed in a letter from her parents in Romania who say they are happy to have their daughter return to live with them in their family home.

A report from the governor and an educational report from the prison were both positive and counsel included an article Popovici had written as part of a creative writing course she completed while on remand.

Mr Moher said his client speaks fluent English, Spanish and Italian adding “her abilities and intelligence were put to poor use”.

Judge Orla Crowe said Popovici participated in “an international online fraud of great complexity” and her name “came up in the context of this”.

“She had an awful lot of opportunities available to her,” the judge said before she added that Popovici “used her talents poorly”.

Judge Crowe imposed a sentence of two years backdating it to June this year, when Popovici was first remanded in custody.