Gardaí seize hundreds of blank and cloned cards

GARDAÍ INVESTIGATING the activities of an international credit card cloning gang have seized between 300 and 400 blank and cloned cards in a search in Dublin.

Garda sources said about 100 of the seized cards had already been cloned using data illegally skimmed from credit cards in a number of jurisdictions.

The remaining cards seized were either blank cards with a magnetic strip on the back similar to a credit card or were store cards from well-known retail outlets which can be cloned using the details illegally skimmed from credit cards.

Small hand-held devices used to skim credit cards illegally were also seized in the operation, as were a number of laptops.

The computers are used to transfer the data from the skimming devices on to the blank cards.The items were all found during a search of a house at Elesmere Avenue off the North Circular Road in Dublin.

Two men were arrested at the house after the items were found at around 1.30pm on Monday.

One of the men is in his early 20s and the other man is in his early 30s. Both are Romanian nationals. They were taken to Pearse Street Garda station, where they were questioned under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Their detention was extended for a second 24-hour period yesterday afternoon. Allowing for periods in which their questioning was suspended for sleep, both were due to be charged or released late last night.

Informed Garda sources said while analysis of the cloned cards, the skimmers and the laptops would take some time, it was believed the cards already cloned were produced using data skimmed from credit cards in a number of other jurisdictions.

Gardaí believe credit cards were skimmed by swiping them through the small hand-held devices unknown to their owners when the cards were handed over for the payment of a bill, usually in restaurants.

The small devices can store details of a large number of cards. The devices are then plugged in to laptop computers and the details contained on them are downloaded on to the computer hard drive.

The details of each card are then programmed on to a magnetic strip on the back of a blank card or store card. Once the process is complete, the cloned cards can be used to make purchases.

The card owners only become aware that the items have been charged to their credit card when they receive their monthly bill, by which time those responsible are difficult to trace. It is not yet known if the cards seized in Dublin had already been used to make purchases.

Monday's operation is the latest in a number of Garda investigations into distraction theft and ATM card and credit card-based crime in the Dublin area.