Manama: In a sweep against an international credit card hacking racket, Kuwaiti authorities have announced the arrest of 12 people from different nationalities for money-laundering.
The suspected members of the money-laundering network stole numbers of Visa, Master-Cards and other credit cards and created fake credit cards to use them in depositing illegal funds, the interior ministry's security information department said in a press statement.
The gang used special equipment to print cards bearing the names of dead people, or bearing fake and real names, according to the statement carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) on Monday.
The gang liquidated the funds through payments made via various companies with different commercial activities in Kuwait based on an agreement over a commission.
The elaborate scheme allowed the gang to receive money in cash and subsequently transfer it via local exchange firms to different countries.
The department added that the group had issued more than 100 credit cards worth over $1 million by using sophisticated equipment in order to transfer the data of stolen and fake cards and to deposit illegal funds through a complicated schemes thgt covered their tracks.
The suspects come from different nationalities, the statement said, adding that 12 members have been arrested while the other two are are still at large.
According to local reports, the suspects arrested included were two Kuwaiti citizens, two Jordanians, two Nigerians, a Syrian, four Egyptians and a Gulf national.
The two fugitives are believed to be an Egyptian and a Nigerian.
The 12 arrested suspects have been referred to the competent authorities for further investigations, the statement said.
The department urged all citizens and expats to exercise the highest levels of caution regarding their credit cards and to report promptly any suspicious transaction activity.
