LTTE, Indian gangs linked to British credit card fraud

Australian News.Net
Sunday 22nd April, 2007 (IANS)

International gangs operating from India, Sri Lanka and other countries are targeting British consumers by stealing their credit and debit cards details at petrol stations and withdrawing money from their accounts outside Britain.

The scale of the operation is said to run into millions of pounds. On Saturday, the fraud was linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka. A spokesman of the Sri Lanka embassy here told the BBC that the LTTE had been using card details of British customers at some petrol stations and then skimming their accounts of money to fund their violent activities.

Investigations have revealed that money from British customers' accounts have been withdrawn from ATM machines in India, the Philippines and Malaysia, among other countries.

In Britain, most banks have introduced a 'chip and pin' system for transactions in shops using credit and debit cards. This means that for every purchase, apart from the card, the customer also needs to punch in an exclusive pin number.

Signing for purchases using cards has been virtually phased out to prevent card frauds. Introducing the 'chip and pin' system has led to a considerable fall in the scale of card frauds. Industry figures say that the fraud has been slashed by three percent, to pounds 428 million last year.

However, there is increasing concern over new ways being used to target customer bank details using lost, stolen or counterfeit cards on the phone, Internet, email and overseas instead. Experts believe the real victims of card fraud are banks as they have to reimburse customers for money taken from their accounts.

Out of nearly 10,000 petrol pumps in Britain, customers using 200 of them have reportedly been affected in the recent past. Card details are stolen while customers punch in their pin numbers on the keypad - either by staff sitting nearby or by cameras installed on the premises.

In Buckinghamshire, 70 petrol stations were affected earlier this month. Police investigating allegations of credit and debit cards cloning at the Total garage in The Parade, Bourne End, believe a former employee is responsible for copying customers' bank card details, which have then been used to withdraw cash from ATMs abroad, mostly in Malaysia.

In another instance, an unnamed Annesley man, told the press that nearly 1,700 pounds had been taken from his account without his consent after his wife used their card at a petrol station.

He said: 'The money has been withdrawn from ATMs in India. I am really shocked and disgusted by what has happened. This ordeal has caused us a lot of stress.'

In Hastings, several people complained of money being withdrawn from their accounts in India after using their cards to buy petrol at the Texaco garage, which is now being investigated.

A resident, Kayleigh Early, said her partner discovered 'hundreds of pounds' had been withdrawn from his account when he went to get cash.

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said: 'Last week after filling my car with petrol I discovered I had insufficient funds when I went to the cash point. I was shocked as I had more than 1,000 pounds in my account. It turns out my money had somehow been withdrawn in India.'

Anthony Banks, a resident, found out that both his Natwest cash card and credit card were cloned and used in Mumbai to get 88 pounds from his account, while Clare Dorey discovered 175 pounds had been taken out of her account in India on two occasions, as well as a further 56 pounds.

New research has claimed that Birmingham has the most credit card fraud anywhere in Britain. A survey by anti-fraud insurers CPP found 34 percent had been victims of card fraud.

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