HK police arrest 2 in ATM fraud

Members of an international credit card fraud gang in Hong Kong withdrew HK$850,000 ($110,000) from bank accounts using a number of fake bank cards at ATMs, the newspaper Wen Wei Po reported on Friday.

Two members of the group were arrested by Hong Kong police on Wednesday, the report said.

Taking advantage of private banks and Hong Kong's convenient entry and exit procedures, the gang used gift cards — which use magnetic strips like debit and credit cards — to provide account information and withdraw money from the automatic teller machines.

Hong Kong's Commercial Crime Bureau, a division of the police, arrested two Romanian males, ages 24 and 28, and seized 481 fake bank cards, electronic encoders and HK$850,000 in cash. The two men had entered Hong Kong from the United Kingdom on July 17.

A superintendent of the bureau said most of the victims in this case are from Europe, with some from the United States, Australia and Russia. Hong Kong residents and bank customers were not involved.