Northeast District Police Chief ACP Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said initial investigations showed the gang could have bought items in Penang, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur using fake cards.
“We believe these men are connected to a bigger international credit card fraud syndicate,” he said at a press conference here today.
Mior said the activities of the gang came to light when six local men checked into the hotel using a cloned credit card on Friday.
He said an alert front desk staff member of the hotel alerted police after suspecting something amiss with the transaction.
Mior said the men, aged between 28 and 33, had checked into two rooms to use it temporarily to conduct their illicit work.
He said the men were also experts in cloning hotel room keycards, judging from the 46 cards from various hotels found in their possession.
Mior said 427 Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards, with Hong Kong and Chinese bank logos, were also found on them.
He said the team had all the paraphernalia necessary to make fake credit cards — embossing and plating machines, magnetic strips, chip maker and laptops with card readers.
Mior said the men also had fake identification cards to match each fake credit card produced.
He said the mastermind of the group had an earlier conviction for using forged items under the Penal Code.
The six men have been remanded for a week and will be investigated for cheating.