Crime | 21 arrested for illegal card swiping activities

The Judiciary Police (PJ) reported yesterday that it has arrested 21 mainlanders who used POS terminal machines to carry out illegal card-swiping activities for cash-backs.

During the joint operation with the mainland’s police authority, the PJ busted an underground bank in Macau.

The arrested mainlanders are suspected of using modified POS terminals to cash in on behalf of others in Macau.

The PJ seized a total of MOP30 million `from the suspects, including the group’s MOP25 million in liquidity deposited in five accounts in the casino VIP room.

According to the PJ, the criminal group applied for POS machines in the mainland and modified the machines so that the machines could be used in Macau.

According to bank cards’ company’s information, the suspects had swiped a total of MOP1.2 billion using the POS machine, and the card companies recorded a loss of MOP2.4 million.

PJ started the investigation in November after the department had exchanged information with the mainland police authority.

On Monday, the police authorities of Beijing, Hebei province, Tianjin, Hubei province and Zhuhai, as well as Macau, simultaneously took action.

Mainland police authorities arrested 16 people in total.