Gardai issue fraud warning

Gardai have issued a warning about a new form of credit card fraud and said

there has been an upsurge in cases during the past 12 months.

The practice, known as 'skimming', seems to be centred on the Dublin area.

According to the Garda News magazine unsuspecting shoppers can fall victim to skimmers when they handover their credit cards while making a purchase.

The card is swiped through a special skimming machine, which takes the details off the magnetic strip and allows them to be transferred to a counterfeit card.

It is reported that in one case alone a Nigerian gang brought in skimmed cards from the US, Canada and Britain and used them the length and breadth of Ireland.

The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation says as a crime it is particulary difficult to crack as there is a large international dimension with gangs sometimes sending the details of a genuine card to the other side of the globe to be used as a counterfeit.