Sri Lankan nabbed with fake ATM cards [October 13 2008]

A Sri Lankan who Manila Police say could belong to an international syndicate producing fake automated teller machine (ATM) cards was arrested as he was repeatedly trying to withdraw money at the Glorietta mall, an officer said in Manila today.

Superintendent Manuel Santos said Premarajah Rathinem, 39, who was temporarily staying at Copacobana Hotel in Pasay City, was accosted Friday noon by security guards at the third level of the mall when he was seen taking "too long" to withdraw cash from Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) ATMs.

"He was going back and forth to line up at the ATM using different cards. We recovered eight cards, which were certified counterfeit by BPI," Santos said.Some P32,000 in cash that the suspect had withdrawn from the ATMs was also seized.

Rathinem is detained at the Makati police station. The police offer said Rathinem could be a member of a syndicate that steals details from ATM and credit cards with "skimming" devices then reproduces fake cards with the copied information. He said several lookouts likely accompanied Rathinem as he withdrew money but fled when he was arrested.