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A 27-year-old man has been arrested by the police on the suspicion of possessing cloned payment cards and equipment for making cloned cards.

According to a press release by the Singapore Police Force (SPF), they received a police report on Feb. 7 about a cloned metal card, which had been used to make an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) withdrawal.

The name of the bank to which the ATM belonged was not revealed.

Through follow-up investigations, officers from the Commercial Affairs Department established the identity of the man and arrested him on Feb. 16.

Supposedly copied magnetic stripes of over 60 cards

The police added that the man is believed to have copied the payment card details from the magnetic stripes of more than 60 original payment cards.

These details were then encoded into blank metal cards which he had bought online.

The man is also believed to have removed and transferred the Europay, Mastercard and Visa (EMV) chips to the blank metal cards.

A laptop, two notebooks, an assortment of blank metal cards, an engraving machine, a card encoder, a Point-Of-Sale (POS) reader machine and some cloned metal payment cards were seized as case exhibits.

Up to 15 years jail for forged valuable security

Anyone found guilty of possessing machines and equipment, which to their knowledge, has been specifically designed or adapted for the making of any false instrument, may face an imprisonment term of up to five years, a fine, or both.

As for a person who is found guilty of possessing a forged valuable security, they face a jail of up to 15 years or a fine.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Top photo via SPF