Society

5 men arrested in Macao for forging ATM cards

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-11 14:10

MACAO: Macao's Judiciary Police has arrested five men from the Chinese mainland for allegedly forging ATM (automatic teller machines) cards, the Macao Post Daily reported on Monday.

The five suspects, aged between 22 and 30 and from the Jiangxi province on the mainland, were apprehended after the management of the Macao Branch of Bank of China (BOC) reported to the police last month that one of its ATM was found to be illegally equipped with a mini-video camera and a fake ATM card reader that were capable of stealing clients' ATM card data, the daily quoted a Judiciary Police spokesman as saying.

The five suspects left Macao before their alleged crimes were exposed, but they returned to Macao last Thursday and were taken into custody by police later that day, the spokesman said.

At least 55 BOC clients' data were allegedly stolen and a sum of 7,000 patacas (886 US dollars) was illegally withdrawn, according to the police.

The spokesman also said that the suspects has forged a string of ATM cards in Shenzhen after gaining local clients' ATM card data.

The suspects have been transferred to Macao's Public Prosecution for further investigations and possible arraignment on criminal charges.