Four jailed for fake credit card scam

Four young Latvians who defrauded HSBC and Bank of Valletta using counterfeit credit cards to obtain money from two casinos were jailed yesterday.

Girts Lusitis, 21, Kristine Akmene, 20, Oskars Straume, 21, and Edgars Kozlovskis, 19, pleaded guilty to fraud and to having financed and formed part of a criminal organisation.

They had each withdrawn amounts varying between €5,000 and €10,000 within a week and Mr Kozlovskis was found to be carrying 35 counterfeit credit cards, Police Inspector Ian Abdilla told the court.

The four were caught using the fake cards at the Hilton casino on February 11 after a number of American banks contacted the police about illegal transactions.

The officer had explained the police had intercepted 100 transactions from the Oracle and the Hilton casinos and, with the help of both establishments, they managed to identify eight people. One managed to leave the island and three had not been located yet. In handing down judgment, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera said she took into consideration the fact that the four had cooperated with the police, were rather young offenders and had no police record.

The inspector said Ms Akmene had just arrived in Malta at the time of the crime and had not yet cashed any money with the cards given to her and so had made no financial gain.

The three men were jailed for nine months and Ms Akmene received six months.