Card-cloning pair jailed for ATM fiddles

A PAIR of fraudsters who were caught by an off-duty police officer taking out more than £1,000 by putting fake debit cards and pin numbers into ATMs were yesterday jailed for two and a half years.

When police raided the Edinburgh flat of Hungarian Krisztan Racz, 31, and Romanian Horea Dumitru, 22, they found a card-cloning factory complete with a variety of equipment used to carry out the scam.

Officers seized the 1,140 cash gained by the pair along with 24 false ATM fascias used to con people, computer programmes on laptops, mobile phones, memory cards, and gift cards designed to make counterfeit cards.

Racz and Dumitru, both of Edinburgh Prison, admitted forming a fraudulent scheme and obtaining 1,140 by fraud at Tesco, Meadow Place Road, Edinburgh, on 1 March this year.

They admitted having various equipment to use for obtaining money from others through ATMs at Broughton Road, Edinburgh, on 1 March this year.