Four people detained on credit card fraud charges

THE Balearic Guardia Civil has broken up a gang of four people, two men and two women, who have allegedly been cloning credit cards on Majorca with the use of sophisticated electronic equipment. The men, one Czechoslovakian and one Rumanian, and the women, one Italian and one Rumanian, were detained on Wednesday at a flat in Maioris in Llucmajor. According to the investigations of the Guardia Civil, the first of the men, wanted by the National High Court for a prison sentence, was in charge of making copies of the cards, while the job of the second was to select the machines where the crimes were committed. As for the women, the Guardia Civil said that the Italian was also wanted by the National High Court on two charges of counterfeiting.
In the house the Guardia Civil found magnetic strip readers, two computers with programmes set to manipulat the data found on the magnetic strips, various micro cameras to copy the credit card PIN numbers, numerous credit cards, an imitation gun, portable computers, DVD readers, a complete workshop with all sorts of hardware and tools necessary for their criminal activities and other effects and documents. The detainees, who have been taken into custody, also had a supply of cards prepared with the logo and colours of a well known bank on the island.
The Guardia Civil said that the cloning of credit cards is one of the criminal activities which is on the rise, aided by new technology.
Their subsequent fraudulent use brings the perpetrators a lot of money.