3 nabbed in credit card fraud

POLICE arrested three suspects involved in credit card fraud after they were caught in the act of paying stolen credit
card information, a police official said.

The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) nabbed the three suspects in an entrapment operation in a restaurant along Quezon Avenue before midnight of September 2.

Police Director Samuel Pagdilao, Jr., CIDG chief, identified the suspects as Gringo Omar S. Labayani, Norman L. Taebas, and Gerald B. Acopio.

The suspects were caught giving money for stolen credit card information to an unidentified person who had contacted the CIDG before the scheduled transaction.

According to the informant, a certain Prince and his group provided him with a skimming device used in cloning credit cards. In exchange, the group agreed to pay him P1,000 for every information collected through the gadget.

The unidentified person, however, decided to inform the police about the group's activities and agreed to cooperate in the entrapment operation that resulted in the arrest of the suspects.

During the operation, the CIDG agents seized from Labayani a laptop, the skimming device, an adapter cord, two computer keyboards, and the money used to pay the police informant.

Pagdilao said the suspects will be charged of violating Republic Act No. 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998.

"While we call on the public to be extra cautious in their credit card transactions to avoid being duped by these criminal group, we also applaud the proactive stance of citizens in helping the police stop these unscrupolous people," he said.(Emmanuel Louis Bacani )