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Police neutralised a forged cheque and counterfeit credit card syndicate after three members of the syndicate were sentenced to imprisonment at District Court today (July 25).

The court heard that in June 1999, Police received three complaints from victims that their cheques were stolen during mail transit.

Police enquiries revealed that all the cheques, which were later recovered, had the names of payee and the amount altered.

After extensive investigations, a 24-year-old man was arrested during a stop and search operation in July, 1999 while two other men, aged 25 and 35 respectively, were apprehended subsequently during a raid in a flat in Hung Hom where various paraphernalia for forging cheques as well as making counterfeit credit cards was found.

Subsequent investigations by the Commercial Crime Bureau disclosed that the three men were connected with 17 similar cheque fraud cases involving about $1.33 million.

Apart from that, the trio were also found to be active members of an international fraud syndicate which allegedly skimmed credit card information in major cities in Canada. The data was then sent by middlemen via facsimile and e-mail to Hong Kong, encoded on counterfeit credit cards and used at various retail outlets in Hong Kong.

The amount involved in the credit card fraud was about $104,000.

The three men were convicted of a series of relevant charges including conspiracy to defraud, possession of equipment for making false instrument, forgery and theft at District Court today.

The 24-year-old man was sentenced to two years and eight months' imprisonment, the 25-year-old man to five years' imprisonment while the 35-year-old man to two years and three months' imprisonment.

Police Report No. 5

Issued by PPRB

End/ 2000 hours, Tuesday, July 25, 2000 (RCH/EL)