Four individuals were detained on Tuesday, October 28, on suspicion of bank card fraud, allegedly misappropriating more than half a million euros, according to the Polícia Judiciária (PJ). The three men will remain in preventive detention, while the woman must report weekly to the local police station of her residence area.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office reports that the four defendants, foreign nationals, were arrested on strong evidence of committing crimes involving forgery of payment cards, 428 crimes of using counterfeit payment cards, 428 crimes of computer fraud, and one crime of money laundering.
Additionally, “One of the defendants is also charged with the crime of document forgery,” the statement reads.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office further notes that “it is strongly indicated that the defendants, acting concertedly, used automated payment terminals provided to companies they managed through the complainant companies, to make numerous payments using card data illicitly obtained abroad.”
Moreover, “the defendants then siphoned off the amounts obtained into accounts they held in Portugal and transferred money to accounts located abroad. With this conduct, they achieved a profit of at least 260,000 euros.”
After a judicial interrogation, the investigative judge decided, on Thursday, “in line with the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s recommendation,” that “the three male defendants” are subject to the preventive detention measure. Meanwhile, the woman has been subjected to the measure of “weekly presentations at the police station in her residential area.”
These events took place between January 2023 and July 2024.
Four Arrested by PJ for Half a Million Bank Card Fraud
“Between 2023 and 2024, the four detainees, three men and one woman, aged between 24 and 46, obtained bank card data through ‘skimming’ techniques, intercepting and directly reading original bank card data (foreign cards) which they then used in automated payment terminals (TPA) contracted by companies established in the national territory and controlled by them,” explained the PJ in a statement.
According to PJ’s information, Operation ‘Carta Branca,’ initiated by the National Unit for Combating Cybercrime and Technological Crime (UNC3T), took place in Lisbon, Montijo, and Torres Vedras, leading to the arrest of the four suspects, “charged with committing crimes of payment card forgery or other payment devices, computer fraud, document forgery, and money laundering.”
The Polícia Judiciária (PJ) detained four individuals for bank card fraud, who allegedly misappropriated more than half a million euros and are yet to be presented for an initial judicial interrogation to determine preventive measures.
Isabel Matos Alves | 13:08 – 28/10/2025
