Polish man held for allegedly forging ATM cards

A Polish man has been arrested for allegedly being involved in a syndicate forging Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) cards by skimming and stealing PIN codes using a scanner in the capital.

Kuala Lumpur Commercial CID chief ACP Izany Abd Ghani said the man in his 30's was caught while trying to use the PIN scanner on an ATM machine.

He said the fraud was uncovered when an ATM user suspected something was wrong with the ATM keyboard at the KLCC shopping complex on Dec 18 and reported it to the police.

"We found that the scanner costing RM25,000 was allegedly used to read ATM card numbers and the data were used to clone ATM cards.

"The fraudster method was done in the early hours of the morning so as not to raise suspicion.

"We believe the syndicate has an international network to distribute cloned ATM cards to their friends abroad to make cash withdrawals," he told reporters here, Thursday.

He said the suspect, who is remanded until Jan 6, was believed to be aided by two Polish accomplices in their 30s and the police had contacted Interpol to locate them.

Meanwhile, Izany said 122 policemen and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) enforcement officers removed 1,020 Ah Long (loan sharks) posters in Alam Damai, Kepong, Sri Petaling, Jalan Pudu, Taman Maluri and Taman OUG, Thursday.

He said so far this year, the police and DBKL had removed 16,552 Ah Long posters and arrested 45 people.