How the hi-tech card scam worked

ACCORDING to Una Dillon of the Irish Payment Services Organisation, the criminals took terminals that were already in the shop and replaced them with similar ones.

The new terminal included extra equipment including a memory chip and a mobile phone SIM card that can transmit the information for the criminals.

“Subsequently, when cards go through the compromised terminal, they are able to capture that card information and pin numbers,” said Ms Dillon. “They then made fake cards with the old magnetic strip type, because they can’t actually copy the chip.”