Istanbul police crack down on credit card cloning gang that stole 3 million liras

ISTANBUL

Istanbul police have busted a criminal gang specialized in cloning credit cards of restaurant customers and that has so far made 3 million Turkish Liras ($730,000). 

The gang’s leader was captured in Indonesia, where he fled to, while in Istanbul, police detained 18 suspected members, of whom 13 were later arrested upon a court order, daily Habertürk reported on April 13.

The Istanbul police’s operation came after receiving intelligence that the gang had cloned thousands of people’s credit cards with information received from various fast food restaurants’ couriers.

Later, Turkish authorities determined that the gang’s leader, identified only as Doğan K., was living on the Indonesian island of Bali. Indonesian authorities will repatriate Doğan K. after subjecting him to their own laws, according to the daily.

In Istanbul, police detained 18 people in simultaneously conducted operations at different addresses, including Doğan K.’s brother Orhan K.

Seven of the caught were later determined to be restaurant couriers working undercover for the gang.

Istanbul police seized six magnetic card duplicators (MSR), 312 magnetic stripe cards, four computers, three flash disks, 28 skimming devices, 22 mobile phones, four hard disks, 19 SIM cards, 25 SD memory cards, seven ATM hidden camera mechanisms, and 8,995 liras ($2,200) of cash money in the operations.

The gang was indicated to have provided fast food couriers with a skimming device which sweeps up the customers’ payment card data off the magnetic stripe. Hackers then used this data to create counterfeit cards. The restaurant couriers were indicated to have been receiving 5,000 liras ($1,200) for this job every month from the gang.