POLICE have detained 11 people after an investigation into more than 30 cases of restaurant-related credit card fraud involving up to 1 million yuan (US$158,200) in stolen money.

    Some of the suspects were supervisors or managers at upscale Shenzhen eateries including Tak Fok Restaurant and Laurel Restaurant. Two suspects are still on the run.

    Police seized six recording machines used in the theft of credit card information, as well as nearly 100 bank cards and fake bank cards. The six recording machines contained information for more than 150 bank cards.

    The case involving the largest amount of stolen money saw the victim lose 150,000 yuan.

    Two of the suspects, identified as Zhan and Wu, were former employees of two well-known Shenzhen restaurants who confessed that they bought a recording machine to steal customers’ bank card information following “persuasion” from people in their hometowns. The two suspects routinely gave a point-of-sale machine to customers, asking them to key in their PINs while the two peeped from behind to steal a glimpse of the identification number. Afterward, they would find a person specializing in making false cards and then commit the theft.

    In less than one year, Zhan, the chief suspect, had built a new building in his hometown with nearly 1 million yuan in stolen money.

    Economic crimes such as credit card fraud are on the rise in Shenzhen. Police in Nanshan District received reports about more than 60 credit cards being used to obtain unauthorized funds from an account in February. The suspects were found to have used the cards to buy gold and jewelry worth more than 3 million yuan in about 50 jewelry stores and shopping malls in eight provinces and municipalities across the country, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong.

    Police have warned cardholders against letting their credit cards out of sight when making payments at restaurants.

    “Some cardholders like to give their credit cards to restaurant employees, but it’s better to go in person to the check-out counters to make payments,” Yang Minghong, a police officer at Yuehai Police Station in Nanshan District, was quoted as saying in yesterday’s Shenzhen Economic Daily. “Use your hand as a shield when entering your PIN.” (SD News)