In a special investigation, a total of 17,126 fake credit cards were seized in three locations in Zhuhai, a southern city that borders Macao.

This was made public Wednesday at a press conference by Zhang Bingzhao, deputy director of the Economic Criminal Investigation Department of Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security.

Zhang said seven suspects, including three Macao residents and a woman, have been detained for further investigation.

The action was carried out following a month of investigation after Guangdong police were notified by Macao police late last year, Zhang said.

The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Security immediately established a task force that confiscated more than 400 code readers, six computers, three printers, a fax machine, scanners and other equipment.

A total of 121 pieces of overseas credit card information that would have been used to produce fake credit cards were also investigated and seized by police.

The fake credit cards include Mastercard, Visa, Dinersclub and others that have been issued by more than 20 overseas banks and financial organizations in the United States, Britain, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao.

Zhang said so far, it is the biggest fake credit card case that has been uncovered in China and also one of the largest cases involving fake credit card production and sales in the world.

The technology and equipment used to produce the fake cards were found to be the most advanced in the world, Zhang said.

Police believe they have hit a criminal gang that focused on producing and selling fake credit cards in the region.

The gang allegedly stole credit card information from abroad and produced fake cards in Zhuhai, Zhang said.

All the fake cards were planned to be sold to Britain, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao and other overseas countries and regions at huge profits.

International credit card organizations estimated that if the cards had been circulated they would have caused economic losses of more than 320 million yuan (US$38.55 million).

Zhang said the crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to the region's fake credit card production rings and deters other related crimes.

Zhang added that the cross-border criminal case also showed effective police co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao in fighting crime in the prosperous South China region.

The Hong Kong Credit Card Risk Management Council yesterday sent a delegation to Guangzhou to express their appreciation to the police.

Esmond K.S. Chan, vice-president and regional head of Security and Risk Management for MasterCard International Asia and Pacific Region, said the crackdown will help protect the legal interests of foreign banks and other financial organizations and bring the region's fake credit card crimes under control.

(China Daily April 4, 2002)