Refugees Behind $40,000 ATM Scam
The Herald Sun in Australia reports three refugees who used credit card details skimmed in the UK to steal thousands from Australian banks have been sentenced. All three were handed jail terms, but a Victorian judge has suspended the prison terms for two of the Sri Lankan men, who survived torture, beatings and other atrocities before fleeing to Australia. The global fraud scheme involved card numbers stolen in Britain being emailed to Australia and encoded onto blank Coles Myer and Crown cards, which were then used to withdraw cash at ATMs. During the trial, the court heard more than 1500 credit and debit card details were stolen in the scheme to fleece major banks. The group withdrew $40,000, made up 317 fake cards and tried to steal another $70,000 across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT in 2008.
