August 05, 2005 Cash machine fraudsters caught By Simon de Bruxelles An East European gang stole more than £200,000 using a scam expected to cost banks more than £100 million this year AN EAST European gang face jail after stealing more than £200,000 in a cash machine cloning scam that police fear is costing Britain's banks at least £1 million a week.
The three Romanians and one Chechen asylum-seeker were arrested at a hotel in South Wales, where they had built a device designed to fit over the fascia of a cash dispenser outside a Cardiff supermarket. The device included a "skimmer", which copied the information on the card's magnetic strip, and a tiny camera that transmitted a moving image of the customer' s PIN being entered on the keypad. Dozens of similar scams have been recorded in recent months from Bristol to Tyneside, conducted mainly by East Europeans. According to the Association for Payment Clearing Services, cloning cost £61 million last year, an 85 per cent increase on the previous year, making it Britain's fastest-growing serious crime. This year the figure is expected to exceed £100 million. Police in Cardiff had a lucky break when they were alerted by a hotel manager who suspected that four of his guests were involved in a big drugs deal. A spokesman for the Cathedral Hotel, where the men were arrested, said: "Usually when people stay for the weekend they unpack, change and go out for the night. These four men were coming in then going straight back out." Instead of drugs, officers who searched the men's rooms found the components of fake cash machines and two laptop computers that contained card and PIN details of 129 accounts, mainly from Essex, East London and South Wales. DC Paul Giess, the investigating officer, said: "The false fascias were to be made to order to fit different machines. We found all the components they would have needed and even the soldering iron." Cardiff Crown Court heard that three of the men Lucian Carabgeac, 32, Ivan Grosu, 23, and Florin Vornicu, 31 are illegal immigrants from Romania. The fourth, Rulan Ashan, 19, is a Chechen asylum- seeker. They are believed to have been based in London but travelled to Cardiff. Vornicu had given a different name when first brought before the court and had entered Britain on a forged Latvian passport. Steve Donoghue, for the prosecution, told the court that the men could have made up to £200,000 from the scam. He added: "This was a sophisticated operation to take money from ATM cash machines. The prosecution cannot say what role each of them played in the conspiracy but we say they were all in it together. There is also evidence of other people being involved because a car was seen speeding away from the hotel." The four men admitted conspiring to steal money from clearing banks. Judge David Morris adjourned sentence until next week. Since it began five years ago, cash machine fraud has swiftly increased in sophistication, staying one step ahead of the banks' attempts to control it. In a recent case in Whitley Bay, Tyneside, fraudsters jammed other cash machines in the area so that customers were forced to use a cloned Nationwide machine. In June, members of another Romanian gang were convicted in London after they cloned 1,233 cards and made more than £640,000. The gangs always stay close to the cloned cash machine to make sure that no one interferes with it. In November last year Andy Harper, a shop manager, was withdrawing money from a Barclays cash machine in Brislington, Bristol, when he noticed that the fascia was loose. He pressed "Cancel" and then pulled the false fascia off. As he was walking back to his car he was attacked by three men who wrestled it off him and made their getaway. The criminal gangs behind such a sophisticated scam sometimes make elementary mistakes. Police in Southend are searching for three men and a woman of "Eastern European" appearance who forgot to wipe the digital memory card before putting it in a camera inside a fake fascia. The pictures showed them posing with waxworks at Madame Tussauds. A spokesman for Essex Police said: "We don't know who these people are but we have ruled out Gary Lineker, John Travolta and Nicolas Cage from our inquiries." SKIM AND SWIPE Three of the most common cash machine frauds are: The Shoulder Surfer The customer behind you looks over your shoulder as you enter your PIN. Later your wallet is stolen The Lebanese Loop A thin strip of plastic inserted into the slot jams your card in the machine. The fraudster either watches you try to enter your PIN and then retrieves the card when you have gone off to report the problem, or offers to enter it for you The Skimmer The fraudster will drop a £10 note on the ground and ask "is that yours?" as your card emerges from the machine. He will then either steal the card or retrieve it and swipe it through a hand- held reader before you have had a chance to react http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1722030,00.html ------------------------ Yahoo! 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