Spanish Police Dismantles International Carding Ring

The Spanish National Police has arrested eighteen members of an international fraud network specialized in credit card cloning. The group is accused of stealing a total of 2,5 million euros (over $3.1 million) and had the necessary infrastructure to misuse credit card details in less than six hours since they were compromised.

A press release posted on the website of the Spanish government reveals that the group's members are from seven different countries, but they reside in Spain. The ring used dummy companies created in Spain and Venezuela to launder the stolen money.

The group's leader coordinated everything, but almost never handled the card cloning equipment or the stolen data. He was receiving most of the proceeds and was living a luxury life, without having to work for ten years.

Many of the other members were employed by a package delivery company owned by the gang's second in command. This company's resources were also used to help the gang in its illegal operations.

The stolen credit card magnetic stripe data was obtained from Russian hackers, through intermediaries in Romania. The carding ring disposed of the necessary infrastructure to write the data onto blank credit cards and start using them in less than six hours.

Many of the cloned cards were used by the members of the organization directly in upscale restaurants, clubs and other establishments. According to the authorities, the business owners knowingly allowed the fraudsters to use the fake cards to buy goods or services from their companies, for increased profits.

Another method of exploiting the credit card data was to sell credit card refills to others. This operation was usually performed from a delivery card, which had all the necessary equipment inside. The customer would pay a sum in cash and get his fake credit card filled with double the amount.

The National Police raided twelve of the group's hideouts in Madrid from where they recovered several card reading and writing devices, electronic equipment, sixty cloned cards, a BB gun, jewelry, luxury cars and even a police badge. This operation follows the dismantling of another large international card-cloning network last month, which resulted in 76 arrests being made in Spain.

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