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- An alleged cloned fuel cards racket has been bust.
- Four people were arrested during the bust after a truck driver allegedly tried to pass off a cloned card at a filling station in Table View.
- Police, the banks and the Hawks worked together to make the arrests.
A Parklands truck owner who allegedly bought and used cloned credit cards to fill up his fleet was arrested in Cape Town on Thursday.
Table View police said the breakthrough came when a bank called a Table View filling station to say that someone was using fraudulent bank cards for diesel.
When the driver of one of the trucks returned for his regular top up on Thursday, the petrol attendant spotted the card and the garage owner alerted the police.
READ | Man found guilty on 280 counts of fraud after card cloning crime spree across Western Cape
The police arrested and questioned the driver and then brought in the Commercial Crimes Unit. The fraud divisions of the two banks also became involved.
He told the police about an address in Milnerton, which officers later searched. Police said the occupant of the address was the supplier of the cloned cards.
- They said they found a skimming device and 12 fake cards, and also arrested one suspected accomplice.
- The officers then moved to the Parklands address of the truck owner and he was arrested for allegedly buying cloned cards.
- The four people who were arrested, aged 19 to 38, face charges of credit card fraud.
Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said there were four Nedbank fleet cards and five Standard bank cards, as well as a hand-held skimming device.
Those who were arrested are expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) explained that skimming commonly occurs when a card is surreptitiously run through a skimming device to get the data off it.
It can be done with a concealed skimming machine in someone’s hand, or by inserting a skimming device into the slot of an ATM. In the latter case, the annoying “shoulder surfer” behind you is probably looking to see your pin number as you add it.
Sabric advises people to never let their cards out of sight when making payments.
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