Credit Card Skimming Network Dismantled in Europe

Romanian authorities have arrested three members of a fraud ring that specialized in credit card counterfeiting and illegal cash withdrawals.

According to Europol, the gang installed ATM skimmers across the European Union and had members active in Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Romania.

Law enforcement agencies from those countries collaborated towards dismantling the gang and arresting the fraudsters.

Prosecutors from the Romanian Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and the Cyber Crime Unit of the Romanian Police's Brigade of Countering Organised Crime (BCCO) executed raids at fourteen locations in several Romanian cities, including Pitesti, Galati and Vaslui.

According to a DIICOT statement sent to Softpedia, police officers seized fifteen computers, 27 mobile phones, 457 optical storage media devices, 7,000 Romanian lei, 50,000 euros, 50,000 US dollars and 15,000 British pounds.

The loses caused by the fraudsters are estimated at over 100,000 euros and the money were used to buy expensive cars, real estate, and luxury items.

The investigation began in March 2010 and Europol offered technical expertise to the national law enforcement agencies.

Two meetings were held between Romanian, Polish and Swedish prosecutors at Europol's headquarters in Hague last year to exchange information.

Skimmers are electronic fraud devices attached to ATMs for the purpose of recording data encoded on the card's magnetic stripe. A camera is also installed near the rigged ATM in order to record the victim's PIN.

The stolen magstripe data can later be encoded onto a blank card and used to withdraw money from the associated account.

DIICOT also targeted a second criminal group which in addition to skimming, specialized in stealing credit card data through phishing. Arrests warrants have been issued for four Romanian citizen who are not currently in the country.