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Ferry gang takes £300,000 from French cash machines
Peter Allen in Paris14.09.09
A total of 34 Slovakians based in London were arrested in France after using Barclays bank cards to fraudulently withdraw more than £300,000 worth of euros.
They arrived on the Dover to Calais ferry on Friday morning and began emptying cash machines across the region.
Armed police made 34 arrests, but not before many had fled with bags of money which remains unaccounted for. “It's one of the most bizarre crimes we've ever dealt with,” said a detective in Lille.
“These men and women had travelled to Calais with the intention of emptying French cash machines using Barclays bank cards issued in London.
"More than £130,000 worth of euros was taken from Dunkirk alone in the early hours of Friday morning.”
The mass withdrawals triggered alarm bells at a specialist financial monitoring unit in Paris, leading to an armed response unit being activated.
At 9.30am on Friday six men were arrested in Calais with more than £22,000 worth of euros in their pockets.
Much more had been taken earlier, including at least £135,000 from machines in Dunkirk and £27,000 in Bithune.
All of those arrested were carrying scores of Barclays bank cards, many of which are believed to have been handed over willingly by members of London's large Slovakian community.
Like all bank cards, they were able to be used in numerous machines, and not just ones run by Barclays.
“Whoever was responsible for this scam worked out how to use the Barclays card abroad without any credit limit, and had got lots of Slovakians based in Britain interested,” said the source.
Of the 34 arrested, all have since been released, with four on bail facing charges of swindling within an organised gang.
It is thought many of those released were unwitting accomplices, who had simply been told to use their Barclays cards as much as possible in France.
Barclays blamed the security breach on a “computer bug” which has now been eliminated.
