Police cracks down on criminal groups involved in credit card information theft

The local Judiciary Police (PJ) has dismantled two criminal organisations involved in the embezzlement of private credit card information in both SARs, leading to the arrest of 31 local residents, mostly students.

According to police, a joint police operation in both cities was conducted on October 28 and resulted in a total of 37 people from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau residents being arrested.

One of the criminal organisations uncovered started operating in 2019 and used ‘phishing’ and intrusion into shopping websites to steal more than 500 credit cards information, with about 145 of the cards issued by local cards.

The group then recruited offline members through online social platforms and instructed them to bind their own Apple accounts with stolen credit card information, register and top up accounts in mobile games and then sell for profit.

The operation resulted in some MOP600,000 in profits, with each recruited member receiving MOP20 to MOP25 after each recharge transaction was completed.

About 31 local residents said to have been involved with this scheme were arrested, with half being local students.

The three main members of the organisation were studying at the same Macau university and were aged between 19-21, with some 13 local college students and two middle-school students also detained.

The Hong Kong police also simultaneously arrested five men women in the neighbouring SAR and seized a number of electronic devices, involving five cases with a total of HK$80,000.

The other criminal operation led to a female mainland foreign employee who worked in a travel agency in the North District being detained.

During the reservation of hotel rooms for guests, she would recommend that guests pay with a credit card, and then took the opportunity to copy the credit card information.

The stolen data then used to purchase mobile phones online and send them to the Mainland for her associates to sell.

The case involved at least five credit cards and involved more than MOP47,000.

Police have already transferred the aforementioned 32 persons arrested in Macau to the Public Prosecution Office for investigation on crimes of criminal syndicates and computer fraud.

‘Police will continue to strengthen intelligence exchanges and police cooperation with police in neighbouring areas to jointly combat cross-border crimes involving bank cards. At the same time, we call on young people not to provide their personal identity either due to an intention to make quick money or credulity in others,’ the police stated.