Foreigners Jailed In Counterfeit Bank Card Scheme In Trinidad

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, February 13, 2020 (CMC) – Two foreign nationals have been sentenced to two years in jail, after they were found guilty on a charge of trafficking in counterfeit cards.

Magistrate, Adia Mohammed, imposed the sentences on Venezuelan, Simon Eduardo Farias Romero, and Mexican, Francisco Javier Gil Riveera, after they were arrested, in December last year, at a mall, north of the capital.

The court heard that on Sunday, December 15, officers, attached to the Fraud Squad Automated Banking Machine (ABM) task force, were on ABM patrol and surveillance duties in the Northern Division, when, based on intelligence, they visited the Scotiabank ATM, located at Trincity Mall.

The officers found the two men tampering with the machine, and they were immediately arrested.

A search warrant was later executed at a guest house, west of the capital, where the men were staying, and a further 14 cards were found and seized. The cards all had banking information of citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.