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Interpol hunts for brain behind forged credit card network
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Interpol hunts for brain behind forged credit card network
A network of forged credit cards has been dismantled. The alleged mastermind, Irwin Harris, is wanted by the police and the Central Investigation Division (CID) in Piton has asked Interpol to locate the suspect who lives in Canada and move for his extradition for the local enquiry. Meanwhile, his alleged accomplices in Mauritius have been arrested and then released on bail.
After the Proactive Risk Management System of the State Bank of Mauritius discovered the fraud, four people were arrested as they are suspected of having spent millions of rupees in hypermarkets. They are thought to have transcribed data from other people’s credit cards on blank ones they have created with their names and signatures on. Soon after, the investigators also arrested the main suspect’s mother on the charge of concealing a laptop and other IT equipment used for the fabrication of the forged credit cards.
The police have found more than 400 forged cards at the home of one of the suspects, as well as other objects used in their manufacture and about 30 cards in the name of Irwin Harris, the husband of one of the suspects. The couple had changed their names in 2003.
<B>Smart cards launched by SBM</B>
Johana Suzanna Van Rensburgh, representative of Visa in South Africa, came to Mauritius at the beginning of the month and is now preparing a report for the Mauritian police on the extent of the fraud. This case has led to the confiscation of 198 forged credit cards by the investigators.
On the other hand, the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) has announced that all its credit cards will be Smart cards within the next three months. This could well be the solution needed to fight such fraud. The leaders in credit card business worldwide, Mastercard and Visa, have expressed the wish that all credit cards be replaced by smart cards by 2006.
As a result, the other banks in Mauritius should soon follow the SBM initiative.“The chip introduced in the credit card will prevent such fraud as it will contain the holders’ own data as well as safety parameters. The customer will have to type his/her code, which has been the practice reserved for debit cards only so far,” explains Rodolphe Couronne of SBM. This system, which is current in France with the famous Carte Bleue, should prevent such incidents from happening in the future!
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