5m yuan stolen with forged foreign credit cards

A man who allegedly forged foreign credit cards and stole more than 5.13 million yuan ($844,400) from those accounts was tried in Jiangsu province on Tuesday.

Sun Kuangzhao, 30, a Hangzhou native who allegedly taught himself how to forge credit card using online sources, was charged with credit card fraud, and crimes of forging identity cards and hindering credit card management, at Hangzhou West Lake District People' Court.

Sun bought personal information of foreign credit card users from foreign websites, and credit-card copying machines. He learned how to forge the cards from Baidu Post Bar, an online community, and by talking with people on instant communication groups on Tencent QQ.

He purchased multiple POS machines from electronic payment technology companies in Shenzhen and Shanghai, through which he transferred the money to other bank cards, and then used ATM machines to withdraw the money.

His case was first detected in May 2013, when UnionPay International received loss reports from American credit card users. Investigations showed the money flowed out to China. As a result, Chinese police were brought in.

Prosecutors at the trial said credit card fraud entails jail terms of more than 10 years, and forging identity cards and hindering credit card management each has jail terms of less than three years. They said Sun will receive a combined punishment for the three offenses.

The verdict will be handed down at a later date.