NASHUA, N.H. — Police arrested a 36‑year‑old man earlier this month in connection with a multistate EBT card fraud scheme that investigators say drained more than $100,000 from public‑assistance accounts across New England.
Alexandru Victorian Ispas, a Romanian national, according to the Nashua Police Department, was taken into custody earlier this month after surveillance teams assigned to “Operation Last Swipe” observed him making multiple ATM withdrawals at Citizens Bank and Santander Bank on Main Street. Police said the nearly $20,000 he allegedly pulled from the machines matched the exact amount stolen from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) accounts that morning.
The investigation began in Maine in November 2025, when officials noticed fraudulent ATM withdrawals affecting numerous TANF accounts. Losses mounted, and by early 2026 the activity had spread into New Hampshire, with additional unauthorized withdrawals reported in Manchester in January and in Nashua on May 1 and July 1.
On July 1, surveillance teams from Nashua Police, federal inspectors general, Homeland Security Investigations, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies were deployed throughout Nashua. At about 7:30 a.m., investigators were alerted to fraudulent ATM activity in progress.
Police said they stopped Ispas after he left the area in a vehicle, and police said he initially identified himself as “Peter Sagan” while presenting a Republic of Slovakia identification card.
During booking, federal partners used facial‑recognition technology to confirm Ispas’ identity as a Romanian national with a prior history of similar fraud offenses in the U.S. and Europe.
Court‑authorized searches recovered $19,590 in cash — the same amount withdrawn that morning in Nashua — along with suspected cloned EBT cards, devices used to encode them, a fraudulent Danish passport and other evidence police said links him to the scheme.
Ispas was charged with two counts of theft by unauthorized taking ($1,500 or more), and two counts of identity fraud, both Class A felonies; two counts of forgery of a government instrument, a Class B felony; and disobeying an officer, a Class A misdemeanor.
He was held without bail following his arraignment in 9th Circuit Nashua District Court.
Police said the case remains part of an ongoing investigation into an organized criminal enterprise targeting government benefit programs across state lines, and additional federal charges are expected.
In a press release about the arrest, the Nashua Police Department said it thanked its partner agencies for their assistance, including the police departments in Concord, Derry and Manchester in New Hampshire, and Portland and Westbrook in Maine.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.
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