Ministry issues warning to banks against fraud by ‘fictitious’ firms
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KUWAIT CITY, Feb 4: The Ministry of the Interior has circulated to the Kuwait Banking Association a violet bulletin issued by the Interpol General Secretariat warning against fraud by fictitious companies through the use of payment devices that do not require the presentation of a bank card, reports Al-Rai daily.
The Kuwait Banking Association warned the banks about the new and innovative criminal method to ensure that crime is controlled and limited in accordance with the nature of the crime, stressing the need to take appropriate preventive and precautionary measures.
The circular pointed out that the circumstances of the incident that called for universalization is that the accused traveled to Perth, Australia in October 2018, and founded there 5 companies.
The defendants were assigned to visit a number of Australian banks to open bank accounts of the companies they founded.
They were also assigned to find and lease workplaces to become a front for these newly-registered companies and to send them to EFTPOS payment terminals. These devices were provided by the bank concerned with the payment feature without the presentation of a bank card, called mail or telephone order (MOTO).
Four foreign “tourists” have faced court over an elaborate money laundering scam that was foiled by authorities from the Government of Western Australia (WA) before they could send thousands of dollars offshore, said perthnow.com.au
The men are allegedly part of an international syndicate that set up several Australian companies to acquire EFTPOS machines, which were then used to make fraudulent credit card transactions. Police claim the men — two from Slovenia and two from Britain — had planned to spend just weeks in WA to steal money and send it overseas but they now face the prospect of years in a Perth jail.
The men allegedly flew into WA last month on tourist visas and posed as directors of the five companies, which were registered with ASIC, to lease business premises, set up bank accounts and get EFTPOS machines.
They then allegedly sat in their rented rooms in the city and manually entered the details of stolen credit cards in the machines, with money from the fraudulent transactions deposited into the companies’ bank accounts.
The men had allegedly accrued more than $45,000 but the sophisticated scam was uncovered before the funds could be transferred offshore, police claim.
An investigation by the WA Police major fraud squad and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Perth resulted in raids at units in Perth on Thursday where the four men were arrested.
The men were allegedly nabbed just hours before they were supposed to leave the country. Investigators say they found several EFTPOS terminals, merchant receipts, airline boarding passes, Western Union money transfer receipts, financial documents, electronic devices and mobile phones in the rooms. Police claim an overseasbased syndicate member had provided the men with the compromised card details of Australian and international victims
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