'Cloning' Credit Cards

Advancements in technology, especially in the financial services industry, and the ease with which cross-border flows of financial transactions can take place have made it easier for criminals - including terrorists - to take advantage of liberalized financial markets and innovative technologies.

Recently, LTTE terrorists successfully perpetrated a massive credit card fraud in London, costing the British public - according to reports - about GBP 100 million by skimming credit cards belonging to the British public. Skimming has been a common technique used to raise funds for terrorists in Algeria, Kashmir and Chechnya, and now it is clear that it is being extensively practiced in the Western world too.

The modus operandi in this case was said to be the ‘cloning’ of credit cards skimmed at petrol sheds in various parts of England by the LTTE to fund its terrorist activities in Sri Lanka. It has been reported that about 200 independently owned petrol stations are under investigation, where LTTE terrorists operating under the guise of petrol shed staff have been involved.

The investigations have also apparently revealed that the credit cards cloned in Britain have been used to obtain funds in Thailand, and some other far-off parts of the world. In that context, it is important to note that such criminal activities could very well be happening in our own countries too, and we may be inadvertently funding terrorism ourselves.

Today, combating terrorism cannot be considered the sole responsibility of single governments or single sets of soldiers who fight at the front at the risk of their lives. We must all get involved in an international effort if we are to defeat this menace.

(Excerpts from keynote address by Ajith Nivard Cabraal, CBSL Governor, at a workshop in Colombo on May 7th 2007)