Former restaurant employee and brother jailed for card fraud
2000-8-2
A former restaurant employee and his brother were respectively jailed for 14 months and 16 months at Eastern Court today (Wednesday) for conspiring to possess equipment for the manufacturing of false credit cards.
The court learnt that credit card information collected by the defendants had been used to manufacture false cards which were uttered in retail outlets in Japan, causing $114,122 losses to local card issuing banks.
Chang Koon-cheong, 27, ex-captain of Peak Cafe, and Chang Koon-tung, 25, unemployed, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to have in their custody one skimmer for the making of counterfeit credit cards.
Magistrate Mr Colin MacKintosh said immediate custodial sentences were imposed since the offences committed by the defendants were serious and constituted a serious breach of trust.
The judge said he had taken into account the defendants' clear records and guilty pleas.
The case originated from a corruption complaint, which alleged that a staff member of Peak Caf might have accepted advantages in return for supplying customers' genuine credit card data to a criminal syndicate.
ICAC enquiries revealed that Chang Koon-cheong was employed as a waiter at Peak Cafe since May 1994, and was responsible for handling relevant credit card transactions.
In late August last year, Chang Koon-tung asked his brother Koon-cheong to capture customer credit card data with a skimmer and offered a reward of $1,000 for each set of data captured.
Chang Koon-tung also taught Chang Koon-cheong how to use the skimmer to collect card data.
In September last year, Chang Koon-cheong captured about 60 sets of credit card data with the skimmer.
Chang Koon-cheong learnt that the captured data would be used to manufacture false credit cards for fraudulent purchases overseas to avoid detection in Hong Kong.
The prosecution was today represented by a Court Prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Aman Chee.
The court learnt that credit card information collected by the defendants had been used to manufacture false cards which were uttered in retail outlets in Japan, causing $114,122 losses to local card issuing banks.
Chang Koon-cheong, 27, ex-captain of Peak Cafe, and Chang Koon-tung, 25, unemployed, earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to have in their custody one skimmer for the making of counterfeit credit cards.
Magistrate Mr Colin MacKintosh said immediate custodial sentences were imposed since the offences committed by the defendants were serious and constituted a serious breach of trust.
The judge said he had taken into account the defendants' clear records and guilty pleas.
The case originated from a corruption complaint, which alleged that a staff member of Peak Caf might have accepted advantages in return for supplying customers' genuine credit card data to a criminal syndicate.
ICAC enquiries revealed that Chang Koon-cheong was employed as a waiter at Peak Cafe since May 1994, and was responsible for handling relevant credit card transactions.
In late August last year, Chang Koon-tung asked his brother Koon-cheong to capture customer credit card data with a skimmer and offered a reward of $1,000 for each set of data captured.
Chang Koon-tung also taught Chang Koon-cheong how to use the skimmer to collect card data.
In September last year, Chang Koon-cheong captured about 60 sets of credit card data with the skimmer.
Chang Koon-cheong learnt that the captured data would be used to manufacture false credit cards for fraudulent purchases overseas to avoid detection in Hong Kong.
The prosecution was today represented by a Court Prosecutor, assisted by ICAC officer Aman Chee.