The Ghost Dealers of Chișinău: Unmasking Radu Cotîrșău and the €5,000,000/Month US Vehicle Wire Fraud Syndicate

Through a multi-month forensic inquiry cross-referencing federal immigration manifests, courtroom filings in the European Union, leaked telecommunications routing logs, and internal whistleblower records, cybercrime analysts have unmasked the central coordinator behind one of the most destructive automotive wire-fraud networks targeting American citizens.

Operating under a legal alias obtained after foreign deportations, COTIRSĂU RADU (formerly known in law enforcement records as SLAVENSCHI RADU) directs an industrial enterprise extracting upwards of €5,000,000 each month from American families. The victims are everyday buyers searching for pickup trucks and agricultural machinery on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.

01. Primary Identification & The Verified Passport

Following multiple international arrests and an armed extradition from the United States, the subject returned to the Republic of Moldova and legally replaced his family surname of Slavenschi with Cotîrșău. This bureaucratic maneuver allowed him to obscure his past criminal footprint while scaling boiler-room infrastructure across Eastern Europe.

INTELLIGENCE PARAMETER	OFFICIAL RECORD SPECIFICATION
Current Legal Name	COTIRSĂU RADU (Official Record: Cotârșău Radu Igor)
Former Legal Name	SLAVENSCHI RADU (Used prior to post-extradition name change)
Passport Number	AB1821672 (Republic of Moldova, Type PA)
Personal Number (IDNP)	2004042043991
Exact Date of Birth	07.07.1991 (July 7, 1991)
Place of Birth	Holercani village, Dubăsari District, Republic of Moldova
Citizenship	Dual National: Republic of Moldova (MD) and Romania (RO)
Passport Issuance / Expiry	Issued: 30.04.2022 | Expires: 30.04.2032 (Agenția Servicii Publice)
CNA Curator / Shield	Personal protection provided by Officer Tarina Ion (Centrul Național Anticorupție — CNA)

EXHIBIT 1.1 — OFFICIAL PASSPORT REPUBLICA MOLDOVA SERIES: AB1821672 // IDNP: 2004042043991

Document Authentication: Republic of Moldova biometric passport AB1821672, issued to COTÎRȘĂU RADU, born July 7, 1991. Issued on April 30, 2022 by Agenția Servicii Publice. This official government issuance verifies his formal identity transition from the previous legal surname Slavenschi.

MRZ 1: PMDACOTIRSAU<<RADU<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
MRZ 2: AB18216722MDA9107072M32043042004042043991<82

EXHIBIT 1.2 — PHOTOGRAPHIC CATALOGING LAW ENFORCEMENT SURVEILLANCE & ESCORT

Photographic identification records of Cotîrșău Radu Igor (f/k/a Slavenschi Radu), born 1991 in Holercani, Dubăsari District, Republic of Moldova.

02. The Cloned Dealership Fleet: 71 Scam Sites Operated by Radu Cotîrșău

Technical correlation of reverse-IP records, identical registration scripts, shared telecommunications infrastructure, and victim wire complaints from AutoScamAlert.com confirms that all 71 fraudulent automotive websites cataloged below are operated by Radu Cotîrșău's syndicate.

These sites pose as licensed US auto dealerships, vehicle auction houses, and commercial freight services across 31 US states, accounting for millions of dollars in verified wire losses:

03. Operational Footprint & Geography

The syndicate's operational centers are intentionally distributed across multiple jurisdictions to insulate the leadership from law enforcement action:

04. Prior Criminal Record Across Jurisdictions

Cotîrșău’s fraud empire is built upon a decade of technical and violent offenses across Europe and North America:

4.1. Extradited from the United States by Homeland Security (2017)

On May 23, 2017, Slavenschi Radu was delivered to Chișinău International Airport escorted by two armed officers of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) following his apprehension on US soil.

EXHIBIT 4.1 — US HOMELAND SECURITY EXTRADITION & ARMED ESCORT LOG MAY 23, 2017 // POLIȚIA RM & MOLDOVA.ORG

Photo 1 — Aircraft Deplaning: Radu Slavenschi descending the aircraft stairs at Chișinău International Airport under direct armed escort by US Department of Homeland Security agents.

Photo 2 — Custody Transfer: Subject in handcuffs in the airport terminal standing between US Homeland Security agents and Moldovan prosecutor with the judicial extradition dossier.

Photo 3 — Armed Transit Escort: Slavenschi marched down the airport security corridor flanked by tactical officers of Trupele Speciale Carabinieri to pre-trial detention.

Photographic sequence documenting the May 23, 2017 international handover of Radu Slavenschi (now Cotîrșău) by United States law enforcement authorities. Original archive images published by Poliția Republicii Moldova / Moldova.org.

Source Record: Moldova.org — International Fugitive Extradited from the US

4.2. Slovenian ATM Infiltration Trial & Deportation (2019)

In April 2019, Slovenian national daily Svet24 exposed an organized Moldovan criminal group targeting automated banking machines in Šmarjeta, Slovenia. The intercepted cell included Radu Slavenschi, equipped with specialized electronic brackets and magnetic hardware designed to penetrate ATM internal operating systems.

EXHIBIT 4.2 — COURTROOM PROCEEDINGS IN SLOVENIA SVET24.SI INVESTIGATIVE DESK

Slovenian court trial photograph published by Svet24. Radu Slavenschi and three Moldovan accomplices escorted before Judge Betka Šimc following their arrest with specialized cyber-intrusion tools.

Source Record: Svet24.si — "Vlomilski turizem: nekdanji policist in športnik na krivih potih"

4.3. The 2015 Armed Police Confrontation

In 2015, Slavenschi was a lead instigator in a violent clash in Moldova where a police officer was forced to discharge his service weapon, resulting in a civilian being shot. Forensic video review cataloged Slavenschi as one of the central violent provocateurs.

05. The €5M/Month US Car-Purchase Scam Machine

Following his deportations from Western jurisdictions, Cotîrșău modernized his operations from street-level card skimming to an industrial-scale telecommunications scam netting over €5,000,000 every single month:

06. CNA Institutional Protection: Officer Tarina Ion (Centrul Național Anticorupție)

The central explanation for why Cotîrșău’s 10 call centers operate with complete domestic impunity lies in his corrupt relationship with Officer Tarina Ion (Ion Țarina) of the CNA (Centrul Național Anticorupție — National Anti-Corruption Center of Moldova).

07. Stolen Wealth: Spanish Island Luxury Estates

While hundreds of American victims face financial ruin, Cotîrșău has laundered tens of millions into luxury Spanish real estate. Asset tracking reveals multiple multi-million euro luxury estates in Spain, located on resort islands featuring year-round summer climates (Canary Islands & Balearic Islands).

08. Intelligence Reliability Assessment

09. Notice to Federal Law Enforcement

This public dossier has been compiled to strip away the diplomatic, legal, and institutional anonymity shielding Radu Cotîrșău. All collected evidence, VoIP server logs, and transaction hashes have been forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI IC3), United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and Europol.