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31 October 2005
Get rid of your receipts sensibly to avid fraud so says the man who helped mastermind the uncovering of a huge credit card scam in Wales last week.
Detective chief inspector Bob Tooby of South Wales Police, who seized 400 counterfeit credit cards from a gang in Cardiff on Thursday, has reminded shoppers that criminals frequently raid bins in public places to snatch carelessly-discarded receipts and use them to steal millions of pounds from unwitting consumers.
He told the Western Mail that the bank details on a bill or credit card receipt can be used by criminals to get wind of a person's entire set of financial details and that account details left in bins at home or outside shops leave customers "wide open" to being swindled.
Mr Tooby explained: "If you leave details of your bank account in your bins, or in shops where you have had a transaction, you are leaving yourself wide open.
"Please don't leave your details for the public to get hold of, because they will get hold of them and they will spend your money.
"All they need is bank details that are included on a bill or a credit card receipt."
The use of a shredder, an ever-increasing sight in households today, is perhaps the most effective way of ensuring that important financial documents cannot be viewed and manipulated by others.
The Cardiff gang, apprehended on Thursday morning, consisted of seven Chinese nationals, all of whom were being questioned over the weekend.
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