Traffic stop nets debit-card fraudsters
Posted On Friday, February 1, 2008 at at 2/01/2008 05:27:00 AM by nullPolice in Canada charged four men with fraudulently possessing financial data and criminal conspiracy after a traffic stop led to the discovery of 129 gift cards holding the banking details of British citizens and materials connecting the accused with the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group, the Toronto Police Service said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The four men were detained after police pulled over their rented van for running a stop sign and found that the driver had been drinking, according to a Canwest News Service report. Following a search of the vehicle, the police allegedly discovered 41 plastic gift cards containing the banking information of British citizens encoded on their magnetic stripes. After searching a residence and hotel room connected with the men, police found 88 more plastic gift cards, $25,000 in Canadian twenty-dollar bills and "Tamil Tiger paraphernalia," according to the statement released by the Toronto Police Service (pdf).
In addition, police seized two laptop computers, computer memory sticks, card reading and writing hardware, travel documents in the accused's names and receipts from money transfers back to the United Kingdom, the police stated. Two of the men are residents of Toronto, Ontario, while the other two were residents of London, England.
Fraud linked to various types of electronic payments continues to grow. A year ago, gift-card and credit-card fraud garnered more attention after data on more than 100 million accounts was stolen from retail giant TJX Companies. Last month, TJX settled with banks that had to replace customers credit and debit cards because of fraud, agreeing to pay nearly $41 million.
Law-enforcement authorities have asserted that terrorists groups have increasingly focused on electronic and cyber crime as ways to launder money and fund their activities.
The Toronto police estimate that that seized cards are worth approximately $250,000, the Canwest News Service report stated. Police plan to bring additional charges against the men.