Five plead guilty to 'largest credit card scam'
April 24, 2007
Five people whose attempts to stage the largest case of credit card fraud were foiled pleaded guilty yesterday.
The gang, who police claim had planned a £17 million credit card scam, had already spent money on foreign property, investments and international holidays.
British Transport Police, who got involved in the investigation after catching one of the gang members at Paddington station with 40 pre-paid mobile top-up cards loaded with credit card details, had problems identifying the nationality of some of the members.
Using aliases and fake identity documents, the gang managed to take police on a 18-month-long chase, until they were finally tracked down in London.
The gang had the equipment to make credit cards and the police had traced 32,000 credit card numbers that members of the fraud ring had used.
UK credit card fraud is decreasing overall, with innovations like chip and pin helping to cut down point of sale fraud.
Online fraud continues to grow however. Consumers should protect their details by ensuring anti-virus and spy ware software is up to date, going only to sites they know and trust, typing in the addresses instead of clicking on links in emails and never giving anybody their details.
Written by Peter Kenny · Filed Under News Credit Cards
45.7 million credit cards stolen through TJ Maxx! Just imagine it!
if you’ve recently made a return without a receipt to a TJ Maxx store, a hacker could have access to your credit card number. TJ Maxx has reported that hackers broke their way into the security systems and siphoned over 45.7 million credit card numbers.