Bank Account Hit For €22k

GARDAÍ in Salthill have said they are following a “definite line of inquiry” in relation to the bank card scam that has hit the city — as it emerged this week that the fraudsters managed to take €22,000 from the bank account of one unsuspecting Galway shopper.Two arrests have so far been made in the investigation which is being carried out by a team from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation with assistance from detectives in Salthill Garda Station and specialist teams from the major banks.No details have been released on the arrests, which were made by local Gardaí last weekend.Financial institutions are still counting the cost of the scam, which is thought to have been carried out by an organised crime gang from Eastern Europe.Thousands of laser and credit card details were skimmed in the city by the criminals over a period of at least six weeks, up until the scam was discovered a fortnight ago.The card details were cloned and programmed into blank cards, with varying amounts of cash then withdrawn from ATMs in Italy and Canada (where Chip and PIN technology is not in use).Some estimates put the number of compromised cards in Galway City alone at...