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Three Romanian males, aged between 23 and 30, were sentenced at the District Court today (November 21) to three years' jail for conspiracy to steal.
The District Court heard that the defendants were members of a transnational syndicate engaged in counterfeit payment cards being encoded with data stolen from overseas bank accounts and making withdrawals at ATMs in Wan Chai and Mong Kok.
On January 25, 2011, Commercial Crime Bureau officers arrested the men at a hotel in Wan Chai and seized a large amount of Hong Kong and foreign currencies amounting to about HK$2.2 million. Besides, a total of 119 false cards were seized.
Investigations revealed that 1,100 withdrawal or attempted withdrawals ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 were conducted by the three defendants with counterfeit payment cards at ATMs in Wan Chai and Mong Kok from January 22, 2011, and over $1.5 million were appropriated.
The trio were subsequently charged for conspiracy to steal. They were convicted on November 2 and the sentence was handed down today.
Police Report No. 209
Ends/Monday, November 21, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:57
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