News

Malaysian police make card skimming bust

February 8, 2004

KAJANG, Malaysia - Federal police confiscated a machine used to make credit or ATM cards, along with 1,207 blank and 156 cloned credit cards, computers, high-end printers, an encoder, an embosser and rolls of magnetic stripes, at an apartment in Kajang on Feb. 2.

Police also arrested three suspects, ages 21 to 24.

According to a report in the Malay Mail, the Federal Commercial Crimes Division is trying to determine how the suspected crime syndicate got hold of the machine. They are looking into the possibility that the syndicate could have purchased the machine secondhand from a financial institution.

"With the machine, the syndicate was able to create cloned credit cards rather easily," said Kajang police chief Assistant Commissioner Gingkoi Seman Pankras.

He said this was the first time police have seized such a machine.

Gingkoi said it was through a stroke of good luck that police stumbled on the activities of the suspected syndicate. He said a team led by Chief Inspector Mohd Rodzi Masaat traced a stolen Perdana V6 to the apartment.

Checks later led the team to one of the suspects, who had a previous conviction for car theft in 1989, staying at the apartment.

"The team raided the apartment about 4 a.m. and detained three suspects who were still asleep," Gingkoi said.

On checking the apartment, police found the cards and the machines. The cards carried the logos of various local and international banks including Maybank, Citibank, EON Bank, Hong Leong Bank, Southern Bank, American Express, HSBC Bank, Affin Bank, Alliance Bank, Bank of Ayudha, Thai Farmers Bank, Krungthat Bank and Commonwealth Bank.

Gingkoi said one of the suspects, a 24-year-old man, confessed to being involved with the syndicate. Initial investigations revealed that the syndicate began its operations last June and was believed to have distributed more than 3,500 cloned cards around the country.

According to the Malay Mail report, the syndicate cloned mostly Gold cards which have a credit limit of between 10,000 ringgits (U.S. $2,631) and 20,000 ringgits (U.S. $5,263).

The syndicate is believed to be headed by a man, known only as Mark Ko Ah Meng who would provide information such as account numbers, names and expiration dates to the 24-year-old suspect.

It is believed the syndicate may have co-operated with retailers and merchants who attached skimming devices to credit card machines at their outlets.

Ginkoi said besides Mark, the alleged mastermind in the syndicate, police are looking for two others known only as Ah Lee and Ah Lek to assist in the investigations.