Police credit card cloning swoop

Police fear Christmas shoppers may have been caught up in the scam

Police have arrested seven men in Cardiff in connection with a multi-million pound credit card scam.

The joint operation with Immigration and HM Revenue & Customs culminated in a raid at a property in the Grangetown area of the city on Thursday morning.

South Wales Police seized 400 credit cards, believed to have been manufactured ready for cloning.

Authorities in Hong Kong were also part of the operation, which police said could have netted millions of pounds.

'Stark warning'

Detective Chief Inspector Bob Tooby said the plain white credit cards seized by his officers could easily be cloned with someone's personal details, which allows the criminal to use the victim's credit.

Mr Tooby said: "This is a massive and very timely haul of some sophisticated equipment which could easily have of netted millions of pounds from the unsuspecting public, probably during the busy Christmas shopping period.

"Working on the assumption that each card has a credit limit of £10,000, their haul could have equated to a massive £4m - perhaps even more."

Mr Tooby added the operation sent out a "stark warning" to criminals who thought south Wales was a "soft target".

Police have said the five men and two women being questioned are all Chinese nationals.