Topic: credit card fraud

A gang of American credit card fraudsters who bought almost US$100,000 worth of luxury jewellery and electronics during a lavish spending spree in the Cayman Islands has been jailed.

Several Butterfield Bank customers in Cayman have had their credit cards compromised recently, prompting the bank to reissue cards that have been used for fraudulent transactions.

The Cayman Islands is being targeted by foreign criminals who come to the islands as tourists, but who intend to defraud the financial system, Crown prosecutors said Friday.

Five people who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud Cayman banks with cloned credit cards were sentenced on Friday to prison terms that ranged from 22 months to two and a half years.

Five people who conspired to defraud local banks attempted to use cloned credit cards almost 400 times within a four-day period, Crown counsel Toyin Salako said in Grand Court on Tuesday.

Four men and one woman, all foreign nationals, entered various pleas to credit card related charges on Friday. Sentencing was set for Tuesday after Crown counsel Toying Salako said she was of the view that social inquiry reports would serve no useful purpose.

Two Canadian nationals were remanded in custody after appearing in Summary Court on Monday for the charge of conspiracy to defraud.