Petrol station scam funds Tamil Tigers

Mark Townsend
Sunday April 22, 2007
The Observer

Motorists who use credit and debit cards to buy petrol are thought to have lost millions of pounds in an international 'skimming' scam believed to have funded Sri Lankan rebels.Bank details are being skimmed by a criminal gang understood to be backing separatist group the Tamil Tigers at petrol stations throughout the UK. Card details and Pin numbers are retrieved and money withdrawn from customer accounts. Around 200 of the UK's 9,500 petrol stations are believed to have been targeted. Police are investigating complaints made in Edinburgh, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Peterborough, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol and Hull. Maxwell Keegel, first secretary of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, claimed the Sri Lankan government had evidence to suggest the scam was funding separatists. Police are investigating the claims and have found no evidence of a definite link.

Ray Holloway, of the Petrol Retailers' Association, said his members tried to tackle the problem by training staff: 'The gangs offer large sums to some employees to be involved in it.' Many British petrol stations are independently run which makes them vulnerable to organised crime.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/arti...063072,00.html

The BBC really played this story the other day(to death)

Makes you wonder if Sri Lanka is next on the "let's fight Terrorisim" drive. By US/Uk.

I have never used a card to buy petrol(rarely buy that much to justify it) So I am not really concerned and there again the banks cover anyway so their loss(and that can't be a bad thing)

However while the story was running I did wonder about other scams at PS's. Not to mention overpricing on everything from a bottle ofmilk to cigs....An almost 50% increase.

There is a few particular stations within the Handsworth area of Birmingham (Booth ST)and for that Manchester.(Princess Rd)Where I suspect the meters themselves are fixed.

Where you are paying for a certain amount and getting less.

Now that is what we all need to be looking out for.

........' the war on "terror" can concievebly go on for generations, if not centuries...this is code for, any person/or group,that doesn't agree with-

in the words of an american offical , the new world order, will be silenced....