TWO Romanian men have been jailed after trying to scam cash machine users.

Cristian Pruna, 36, and Daniel Didiu, 33, appeared at Durham Crown Court, where Judge Robert Adams heard how they tried to obtain bank cards and pin numbers by fitting skimming devices to ATMs.

The pair, of Leeds, travelled to the region to carry out the frauds on several occasions but it was not until October 3, 2014, that they were arrested in Esh Winning, after CCTV stills were posted on the Durham Constabulary Facebook page.

Penny Bottomley, prosecuting, said: “On September 29 the police were informed that a skimming device had been fitted to an external cash machine at Lloyd’s bank in Durham.

“The officers attended and viewed the CCTV and it showed one male attaching the device and then another male removing the device.”

Ms Bottomley told the court that the pair were stopped in a vehicle after receiving information from the public and officers found a Toshiba laptop, Sat Nav, two mobile phones, an empty iPod nano box, clothing and a piece of paper with a list of post codes to post offices with cash machines.

Pruna was also found to be in possession of £400 and Didiu, £305. The pair, of Elford Grove, Leeds, both admitted possessing an article for use in connection with a fraud.

She also told the court how the ATM skimming device recovered had an iPad nano fitted to the upper part which had a video camera attached to record people as they entered their pin number.

Jessica Slaughter, representing Pruna, said in mitigation: “While this seems a sophisticated offence, if one looks, we can see that little was actually gained – they did not manage to be particularly successful which was fortunate for the victims.”

The former cleaners had already spent 14 weeks on remand.

“He lost his job and was struggling to find a job and that’s why he found himself in this position,” Ms Slaughter added.

“Having served a prison sentence, it has been a shock to the system for him, he’s struggling on remand.”

Representing Didiu, Lorraine Mustard, said: “It has to be said there are some elements of sophistication but it does not seem to have paid off.”

She added: “It would appear that it was some measure of desperation and perhaps the opportunity to make money in a quick and easy way.”

Judge Adams said: “There’s a clear need for deterrence in respect of this offending, it is causing a significant problem in this area and across the country and I take the view that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”

Judge Adams, who took four similar offences into account for Pruna and five for Didui, sentenced them each to a year in prison. They were also fined £300 each.