Major card skimming scam smashed

A MAJOR card skimming scam has been smashed after six people were arrested in a series of early morning raids by gardaí probing a gang targeting machines across the country.

Cameras, skimmers, a card making machine, a large number of bank and credit cards and €20,000 cash were seized during searches of houses in Bray, Co Wicklow, and in north Dublin.

The raids were linked to a scam where sophisticated skimmers attached to ATM machine slots are used to copy a card’s magnetic strip while tiny cameras record the pin numbers as unsuspecting victims key them in.

Members of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation led the investigation, one of a number currently being carried out to combat ATM fraudsters.

The six suspects, four men and two women, were arrested shortly before 7am yesterday. Five were questioned for 12 hours at three different stations in Bray and Dublin.

One man, a Romanian national in his mid 20s, was arrested in the Collins Avenue area of north Dublin and detained at Clontarf Garda Station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He appeared before Dublin District Court on a warrant unconnected to yesterday’s operation.

Five people, three men, all Romanian nationals in their mid 20s, and two women of similar age, a Romanian and Belarussian, were arrested in the Bray area. They were detained, under the same section, at Bray and Shankill Garda Stations.

Garda spokesman Supt Kevin Donohue said those involved in the ATM operated in many locations. He said they used two pieces of equipment, a pin hole camera above the keypad and a small skimmer over the card slit.

Armed with all the information needed, fresh cards are then made and the victim, depending on how often the account is checked, faces losing at the very least the daily withdrawal limits.

“Any ATM user who notes anything suspicious at an ATM machine is strongly advised to ‘walk away’ and immediately contact the gardaí,” a spokesperson said.