Macedonian police arrest credit card fraud suspects

11/06/2008

Police arrested three people for allegedly stealing 25,000 euros in three months.

By Goran Trajkov for Southeast European Times in Skopje – 11/06/08

The suspects allegedly forged credit cards belonging to foreigners. [File]

Macedonian police arrested three suspects late last month on suspicion of credit card fraud. Armed with a warrant, police arrested the trio on May 22nd and searched their homes, finding mobile phones, SIM cards for mobile phones and a computer. They turned the items over for further investigation.

According to the interior ministry, the suspects committed an elaborate form of fraud by forging credit cards tied to the accounts of various foreigners. One suspect allegedly registered all the cards in his name after buying them for 50 euros each from another suspect. Investigators say after they made cash withdrawals on the victims' accounts, they would puchase goods and transport them in the third suspect's car.

Police launched Operation ATM last year. By that time, more than 400 Germans reported losses of 1.3m euros. The German branch of Interpol informed the Macedonian interior ministry of the involvement of Macedonian citizens in the crime ring, which was operating in many countries at the time.

This is not the first alleged involvement of Macedonian citizens in international credit card crime. Police believe the three suspects are part of a group whose other members were arrested in April in Greece, including Sasho Kainovski-Panki, a prominent Macedonian singer from the pop group Kuku Lele.

Greek police arrested Kainovski-Panki trying to enter Macedonia from Greece. After a few days in prison, he was extradited to Italy. The singer, together with other members of the criminal group, allegedly stole several million euros from the owners of the credit cards in Germany, France, Italy, Greece and other European countries. The interior ministries of several countries are co-operating to break up this crime ring.

The suspects allegedly possess so-called "skimmers" for stealing personal data from credit cards. Investigators say they were travelling to Western countries with forged travel documents, stealing personal data and using that data to generate credit cards tied to the accounts of unsuspecting cardholders. The victims became aware of the crime only after they lost several thousand euros.

A spokesman for the interior ministry, Ivo Kotevski, says that Operation ATM will continue until authorities solve the case.