Tuesday, July 4, 2006

The New South Wales police fraud squad have been recognised for their efforts and successes in credit and debit card fraud in Singapore last week according to a statement issued today. The award was presented at the Visa Asia Pacific Risk Management Conference.

The award recognises efforts made by police to reduce credit card skimming attacks. Skimming occurs when either an ATM or merchant’s terminal is modified to record a copy of a customer’s card. This data is then sold on the black market.

The award received by NSW police was one of three presented at the conference. The National Police Agency of Japan and the Economic Crime Investigation Departments of Shenzhen and Guandong Provinces of China were also acknowledged with awards.

Assistant Commissioner Graeme Morgan from the State Crime Command said the award recognised the amount of work done by the squad in reducing credit card fraud. “The effectiveness of the squad is demonstrated by the results achieved by these detectives, who are amongst the best in the world,” he said.

Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson, Commander of the fraud squad applauded his team for receiving the award. “It’s a reflection of the enthusiastic and thorough work being carried out by the squad’s detectives to dismantle organised crime groups, particularly recent strike forces that have led to significant arrests for credit card counterfeiting and skimming offences.”

Visa’s Executive Vice President for Australia and New Zealand, Bruce Mansfield, said that NSW Police play a key role in reducing credit card fraud in Australia. “In Australia, we are fortunate to have the best per-capita card security surveillance systems in the world and this is matched by a strong commitment from law enforcement agencies to fight and track down those trying to defraud the system.”

“NSW Police exemplifies this commitment with dedicated strike forces focusing on organised crime gangs, both local and international. It is playing a critical role in the dismantling of organised crime groups engaged in credit and debit card skimming,” Mr Mansfield said.