A gang’s card fraud ‘factory’ has been busted by a specialist police unit.
The Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) – the police unit that tackles cheque and card fraud crime in the UK – has raided a sophisticated counterfeit card factory in Birmingham. Two people have been arrested in connection with this raid and were charged with conspiracy to defraud.
Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, who heads the unit, said: "These arrests are a significant development in our fight against the organised criminal gangs responsible for this type of fraud. To date, compromised chip and PIN terminals have been found in less than 30 retail outlets throughout the UK. Together with the banking and retail industries we are working to ensure this figure is minimised. We are sending a very clear warning to fraudsters these crimes will not be tolerated, and that we will continue to target them and disrupt their fraudulent activity."
Equipment needed to steal card details and make counterfeit cards on a massive scale – including stolen chip and PIN terminals, card account numbers, a card reader/writer, computer software and fake magnetic stripe cards – was found in the premises. Early indications are that these criminals have been tampering with retailers’ chip and PIN terminals in order to steal card transaction data and PINs from these machines.
With these details, criminals are able to create fake magnetic stripe cards that can be used fraudulently in countries that have yet to roll out chip and PIN. This type of fraud – fraud abroad – increased 77pc last year, totalling £207.6 million.
The DCPCU is fully sponsored by the banking industry through APACS – the UK payments association, and has an ongoing brief to help stamp out organised card and cheque fraud across the UK. It is a unique body that comprises officers from the Metropolitan and City of London police forces who work alongside banking industry fraud investigators.
Sandra Quinn, director of corporate communications at APACS said: "Fighting fraud is a shared responsibility and we continue to work with law enforcement and retailers to tackle the organised criminal gangs responsible. Chip and PIN remains the safest method of payment for goods and services, and, in the unlikely event a cardholder is an innocent victim of this or any type of fraud, they enjoy excellent protection under The Banking Code, which means that they will not suffer any financial loss."
Jane Milne, British Retail Consortium (BRC) Director of Business Environment, said: "Customers should be assured that UK retailers always take the protection of cardholder data seriously and are continuing to invest millions of pounds to enhance existing security measures. BRC members have been working closely with the police and APACS to further their investigations and minimise any impact on customers."
Notes
APACS is the trade body that gives banks, building societies and card issuers a forum where they can work together on non-competitive issues.
The DCPCU was launched on 29 April 2002 as a two-year pilot. Following this trial, it was established as a permanent Unit – a funding commitment of £3m a year by the banking industry – with an ongoing brief to help stamp out organised card and cheque fraud. Since its inception, the DCPCU has been responsible for more than £230 million in savings from reduced fraud activity and has recovered more than 244,000 counterfeit cards and card numbers. The Unit is jointly resourced, with APACS and its members providing fraud specialists and administrators who work alongside police officers and civilian staff from the City of London and Metropolitan Police.
The Payments Industry and Police Joint Intelligence Unit (PIPJIU) was officially launched in March 2008. It is the result of the amalgamation of the banking industry’s Fraud Intelligence Bureau (FIB), the body that formerly distributed information between the banking industry and law enforcement throughout the UK – and the intelligence section of the DCPCU.
