NZ prime target for credit fraudsters

An embossing machine, used by fraudsters to create 'clone' credit cards. Photo / Supplied

International crime syndicates are increasingly targeting New Zealand in credit card frauds to buy luxury goods for resale on the black market.

Criminal groups from Europe, Asia, Africa and North America are coming to New Zealand to clone credit card details which they send overseas or use to buy clothing, watches, handbags and jewellery.

Credit card fraud is evolving, and the number of cases has tripled in the past two years.

The head of the Auckland financial crime unit, Detective Senior Sergeant Hywel Jones, said several international gangs had attempted credit card skimming scams in New Zealand.

The number of cases involving foreigners had tripled to about 10 each year.

"Usually, we catch these people before they leave the country," said Mr Jones.

Counterfeit credit cards are "cloned" from legitimate cards by copying data stored on the magnetic strip without the cardholder knowing.

The data is then transferred on to a blank card.

Most people arrested in New Zealand were caught harvesting credit card data.

Cases of cloned cards being used to buy expensive items in New Zealand are harder to detect.

In a recent case, Kian Soon Ng, 26, was arrested after returning to a Newmarket jeweller from whom he had bought a $10,000 Rolex watch.

Police found blank cards in his Auckland home, as well as a machine to create cloned cards.

He was jailed for more than three years in September and will be deported on his release.

Another alleged credit card fraud involves two Auckland taxi drivers charged with a $845,000 Rugby World Cup ticket rort.

Demissie Tefera Asgedom, 25, and Nebiyou Tefera Demissie, 37, were arrested the day the cup tournament started and charged with being part of an organised criminal enterprise.

They were later charged with dishonestly obtaining 1734 Rugby World Cup tickets valued at $845,769, which the Weekend Herald understands were bought with credit card details from the United States.

Scammers' big haul

April 2006: First skimming case in NZ. Russian couple stole $100,000 from 100 BNZ customers, then fled before they were noticed.

June 2006: Romanian family stole more than $100,000 from elderly women by noting pin numbers then taking their bank or credit cards.

January 2009: Asian crime ring bought more than $100,000 of luxury goods with "skimmed" credit cards in NZ.

April 2009: Romanians Marcel Cismas and Alexandru Tudor stole nearly $60,000 with credit cards cloned through skimming devices attached to ATMs.

November 2010: Eftpos machine pin-pads modified to record account details of swiped cards. Canadians Guillermo Lemus, Giovanni Hernandez, and Jonathan Burrell jailed for two years.

September 2011: Malaysian Kian Soon Ng jailed for three years and two months after a spending spree with cloned cards.