SYDNEY - A Malaysian national was jailed for three years today for an elaborate scheme in which he used tiny cameras to capture Australian bank customers' ATM card details.

Kok Meng Ng, 29 managed to steal more than 600,000 Australian dollars (RM1.2 million), using the money to fund his illegal stay in Australia, a court in Sydney heard.

The spree began in 2001 and ended with his arrest last November. Ng was charged with nine offences of stealing data and exporting stolen money overseas.

The scheme involved an elaborate set-up where the information was read off debit and credit cards at 36 ATMs around Sydney. A small camera attached to the machines would read the users' personal identification numbers.

Ng then reproduced the plastic bank cards and withdrew a total of 623,426 Australian dollars from the Commonwealth, St George and Westpac banks.

Police said the fraud, which originated in Malaysia, was the first of its kind to come before the Australian courts.

Ng will be eligible for release in April 2005, but will be immediately deported to Malaysia.

International syndicate

Meanwhile in Lille, France, a court sentenced two Malaysian men to two years in prison for belonging to an international crime network specializing in bank card fraud, police said yesterday.

The men, aged 34 and 22, were sentenced last week after police in the northern city of Lille caught them with some 20 fake bank cards and false passports. The Malaysian nationals have appealed their conviction, police said.

The two men had used the counterfeit cards to buy luxury goods worth nearly 40,000 euros (US$46,750), including name-brand watches, from several jewelry stores in Lille, but a police search did not turn up the stolen goods.

Police said the two Malaysians were part of a sweeping international crime network whose operatives worked in teams, using fake bank cards made from cards stolen around the world and duplicated in Asia, especially Malaysia.

The two men reportedly worked in Spain and across France, according to police. - AFP