Brussels, 03/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - 24 people have been arrested in a police operation that has dismantled an international bank card fraud network that has been operating in several European countries. “A massive blow has been dealt to a large international skimming network after a major police operation” in Belgium, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Romania, said the European Police Office Europol on Friday 31 July, in a press release issued along with Eurojust, the EU judicial coordination organisation. “So far the network is suspected of skimming at least 15,000 payment cards in the EU, for a total of over 35,000 fraudulent transactions and losses amounting to about €6.5 million,” the organisations said. The police operation, coordinated from The Hague by Europol, “led to 24 arrests this week”: 12 in Romania, eight in Italy, two in the Netherlands and two in Belgium. Illegal equipment, counterfeit payment cards, drugs and weapons were seized. The operation identified links to criminal offences in Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Moldova, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In this case, the skimming consisted of the fraudsters placing a device over the card slots of automatic cash distribution machines (ATMs). The device read the magnetic strips as ATM users passed their cards. These devices are often used in conjunction with pinhole cameras to read users' PIN codes at the same time. Details of copied payment cards can then be used for illegal cash withdrawals. (B.C./transl.rt)