Moldovan fraud ring mastermind arrested

A coordinated effort of the Irish gardai and custom officers has led to the arrest of a Moldovan man that is thought to be the leader of and mastermind behind an international fraud ring responsible of plundering many private and business bank accounts.

The man was arrested when the officers raided a suburban home in Limerick on Friday, and among the things found at the place were ATM skimming machines and pinhole cameras with attached covers, actual presses for producing fake bank and credit cards and electrical components for recording electronic data.

Account details for many personal and business accounts were found, along with a good number of blank and fake cards and some $10,000 in cash.

According to The Irish Independent, the raid of the house was the culmination of a two-year long investigation and the result of months of close surveillance.

The gardai are currently getting in touch with Irish citizens whose names were on some of the face cards and checking whether their accounts have been tapped by the criminals.