Police smash counterfeit credit card racket

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-30 09:11

SHANGHAI: The city's railway police said on Thursday that it had uncovered an international gang of credit card fraudsters.

The bust, the city's largest involving fake credit cards, resulted from the discovery of 4,000 counterfeit cards in a woman's luggage at a railway station in Yangpu district on March 2.

Quoting Shanghai police, People's Daily reported that the cards, if used, could have caused losses of up to $20 million to a number of overseas banks, but refused to name the specific lenders.

The police said that each of the cards would carry a $5,000 credit line after being processed with stolen customer identity information.

Three men - Hong Qiang, Xue Wenxiang and Zeng Dehua - have been arrested as a result of the investigation and will soon be charged, police said.

Hong, who had allegedly hired Xue and Zeng to transport the cards, copies of those issued by American Express, JCB International and MasterCard, told the police that he bought them in France and was planning to send them to Japan.

The police said that the cards were from an international gang responsible for making, transporting and selling fake credit cards, but did not reveal whether any foreign suspects had been held as a result of the investigation.

The public was urged by the police to exercise caution when using credit cards and ensure that their passwords remain secure.