London: Two Romanian nationals were sentenced to various terms in jail for their involvement in stealing credit card details of commuters buying tickets at railway station machines here.

Judge Andrew Goymer of Southwark Crown court here, said that the operation represented "huge potential for loss" to unsuspecting travelers. Goymer sentenced Ion Tanese (28) for a year while Ioan Filip (36) Filip for six months. The judge, however, said he could not recommend deportation as Romania was now in the EU and their sentences were under two years.

Metropolitan police said that the gang used a miniature camera and a magnetic strip reader to record pin numbers and card details, which were used to create fake cards, The Sunday Telegraph reported today.

The fraud may have netted hundreds of thousands of pounds. An estimated 144.3 million pounds were stolen from British accounts last year, through counterfeit card fraud - up 46 per cent on 2006.

The bulk of the loss - 113 million pounds - came through foreign withdrawals. The operation was unearthed last month at Paddington underground station here.

A British Transport Police officer saw that an electronic card-reading device known as a "skimmer", had been attached to the card slot of a ticket machine, and a tiny camera had been fixed above the number pad. CCTV showed that a few hours earlier, as people queued behind them, Tanese and Filip used double-sided tape to attach the devices.

Source : PTI