According to media reports, British police are investigating a suspected credit card skimming and cloning operation with international connections. Police opened the investigation after thousands of consumers reported funds missing from their bank accounts or unauthorized charges on their credit cards. Approximately 200 gas stations in Leeds, Hull, Edinburgh, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Peterborough, Bristol and Nottingham seem to have been affected by the scam.
Accusations of LTTE Involvement
Maxwell Keegal, the first secretary of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, has accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of complicity in this reported fraud. Mr. Keegal claimed that the Sri Lankan government has evidence to support the allegations of LTTE wrongdoing, however he did not share this evidence with the media. Mr. Keegal stated, “This is the kind of thing they do in order to raise funds for their armed campaign in Sri Lanka. The way it has worked in the past is that individuals – many who are asylum seekers – are helped by the LTTE to get businesses but are then pressured by them to break the law and supply them with funding. Often the LTTE will use threats against the people or even their families who are still living in Sri Lanka.”
The LTTE Responds
The LTTE responded to the Sri Lankan governments accusations via a statement posted on an Internet site used by the LTTE to disseminate propaganda. S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the LTTE, claimed that the Sri Lankan government was using the reports of organized credit card fraud to distract the international community’s attention away from the Sri Lankan government’s alleged human rights violation. Mr. Thamilchelvan also stated that the Sri Lankan government’s accusations, “are intended to criminalize our community as a whole and to undermine Tamil-run businesses in this country.”
Conclusions
It is in the Sri Lankan government’s interest to portray the LTTE as a criminal organization using illegal tactics to fight the legitimate Sri Lankan government. Likewise, it is in the interest of the LTTE to rebut these accusations and portray itself as an oppressed nation of people fighting the illegitimate suppression of the Sri Lankan government.
However, previous reporting, including a 2006 report by Human Rights Watch entitled Funding the “Final War”: LTTE Intimidation and Extortion of the Tamil Diaspora, has indicated that the LTTE has used intimidation and extortion to extract funds from Tamil diasporas worldwide but have made no mention of credit card skimming and cloning fraud (Previous Report, Previous Report).
Given these previous allegations of coordinated LTTE fundraising activity and the admission by Humberside Police Detective
Inspector Paul Welton’s that the skimming and cloning operation, “was well organized” and “done on an international basis,” it is possible that the LTTE was somehow involved in this scam.
The technology required to manage a card skimming and cloning operation can be easily acquired, assembled, and operated. Organized criminal networks have conducted these scams for years and it is likely that the LTTE could have developed or acquired the skills required to execute this type of operation. However, it is also possible that the LTTE took a more low-tech route and simply pressured independent gas station owners of Tamil descent into turning over customer’s credit card records. Either method has the same impact and affect on the consumer.
