credit card cloner
redit card ‘cloner’ caught
By Evelyn Macairan
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday advised the public to keep their eyes on their credit cards after its agents arrested a member of a credit card fraud syndicate and recovered a pocket-size device used to make “clones†of real cards.
NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said driver Melvin Garcia, 30, and waiter Menandro Caleze, 36, are allegedly two members of the syndicate whose suspected mastermind, Jonathan Valencerina, remains at large.
Garcia and Caleze were charged with violating Republic Act 8484, otherwise known as the Access Device Act, before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office.
Authorities, however, are eyeing placing Caleze under the witness protection program since he was the one who confessed that he was with the syndicate.
Mantaring added that under the RA 8484, mere possession of the equipment is already a violation of the law.
Special Investigator Waldo Palattao, of the NBI-Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division (AFCCD), said this is the first time they confiscated a device of this kind.
“Before, credit card fraud syndicates would have to first steal the card before they could forge the card and the signature. But (now), they would just have to swipe the card in their skimming device, which they can carry around, right inside the establishment and they could manufacture a duplicate card on their own,†he said.
The NBI-AFCCD was alerted to this modus operandi after Ray Talavera learned that someone else used his credit card and purchased P64,808 worth of groceries at a mall in Marilao, Bulacan.
Talavera’s last legal transaction was traced to a KTV bar called Club Malizzia located along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City . The owner of the bar, Ronald Lim, was immediately alerted by the irregularity and he confronted his employees. Caleze came forward and confessed his involvement in creating clones of the credit cards.
He said Valencerina allegedly approached him and said he would earn P500 to P700 for every credit card he would swipe into the small black gadget. On Aug. 15 and 16, he was able to copy six credit cards and was paid P2,500.
Last Aug. 23, Valencerina reportedly informed Caleze that his runner, Garcia, will deliver a new device. The NBI set up an entrapment, arresting Garcia after he gave Caleze the device at midnight .
The syndicate’s alleged modus operandi is to connive with waiters and other personnel in establishments such as restaurants. In many restaurants, customers are required to hand over their credit card to waiters, who would bring the card to the cashier, who will swipe it in the credit card machine.
The deception starts when the employee would swipe the card in the cloning device, which has a memory chip to store the data from the cards. Once the device is full, the employee exchanges it for a fresh one, delivered by a runner.
The device would then be run through a card reader, which will download the data that will be used to make “clones†of the original cards.
“It is more possible to duplicate the cards in restaurants because the card owners do not see what happens to their cards, unlike in shopping malls and grocery stores when their cards are swiped before their eyes,†Mantaring said.
NBI-AFCCD chief Assistant Regional Director Vicente de Guzman Jr. added that this should serve as an “eye opener to the business establishment owners to see to it that their personnel are not in cahoots with unscrupulous people, for them not to be lured into fraudulent schemes.â€
Garcia said he was unaware about the syndicate’s operations and was only told to deliver perfumes. He was paid P300 every time.
The NBI has started looking for the syndicate’s other members since there is a possibility that they may have in their possession a machine used to manufacture bogus credit cards.
The bureau will also coordinate with banks that issue credit cards.
By Evelyn Macairan
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday advised the public to keep their eyes on their credit cards after its agents arrested a member of a credit card fraud syndicate and recovered a pocket-size device used to make “clones†of real cards.
NBI Director Nestor Mantaring said driver Melvin Garcia, 30, and waiter Menandro Caleze, 36, are allegedly two members of the syndicate whose suspected mastermind, Jonathan Valencerina, remains at large.
Garcia and Caleze were charged with violating Republic Act 8484, otherwise known as the Access Device Act, before the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office.
Authorities, however, are eyeing placing Caleze under the witness protection program since he was the one who confessed that he was with the syndicate.
Mantaring added that under the RA 8484, mere possession of the equipment is already a violation of the law.
Special Investigator Waldo Palattao, of the NBI-Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division (AFCCD), said this is the first time they confiscated a device of this kind.
“Before, credit card fraud syndicates would have to first steal the card before they could forge the card and the signature. But (now), they would just have to swipe the card in their skimming device, which they can carry around, right inside the establishment and they could manufacture a duplicate card on their own,†he said.
The NBI-AFCCD was alerted to this modus operandi after Ray Talavera learned that someone else used his credit card and purchased P64,808 worth of groceries at a mall in Marilao, Bulacan.
Talavera’s last legal transaction was traced to a KTV bar called Club Malizzia located along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City . The owner of the bar, Ronald Lim, was immediately alerted by the irregularity and he confronted his employees. Caleze came forward and confessed his involvement in creating clones of the credit cards.
He said Valencerina allegedly approached him and said he would earn P500 to P700 for every credit card he would swipe into the small black gadget. On Aug. 15 and 16, he was able to copy six credit cards and was paid P2,500.
Last Aug. 23, Valencerina reportedly informed Caleze that his runner, Garcia, will deliver a new device. The NBI set up an entrapment, arresting Garcia after he gave Caleze the device at midnight .
The syndicate’s alleged modus operandi is to connive with waiters and other personnel in establishments such as restaurants. In many restaurants, customers are required to hand over their credit card to waiters, who would bring the card to the cashier, who will swipe it in the credit card machine.
The deception starts when the employee would swipe the card in the cloning device, which has a memory chip to store the data from the cards. Once the device is full, the employee exchanges it for a fresh one, delivered by a runner.
The device would then be run through a card reader, which will download the data that will be used to make “clones†of the original cards.
“It is more possible to duplicate the cards in restaurants because the card owners do not see what happens to their cards, unlike in shopping malls and grocery stores when their cards are swiped before their eyes,†Mantaring said.
NBI-AFCCD chief Assistant Regional Director Vicente de Guzman Jr. added that this should serve as an “eye opener to the business establishment owners to see to it that their personnel are not in cahoots with unscrupulous people, for them not to be lured into fraudulent schemes.â€
Garcia said he was unaware about the syndicate’s operations and was only told to deliver perfumes. He was paid P300 every time.
The NBI has started looking for the syndicate’s other members since there is a possibility that they may have in their possession a machine used to manufacture bogus credit cards.
The bureau will also coordinate with banks that issue credit cards.
posted by Mailster at 11:16 PM
1 Comments:
Every time you give your credit card to someone to put through a credit card machine, you are allowing that person access to your credit card information, that can be stolen right from under your nose without you knowing. You can never be too careful with your credit card information.
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