Four arrested in Australia over banking fraud racket

A routine traffic stop test for alcohol use in Asutralia led to the uncovering of an international fraud syndicate involving a global banking giant.

Authorities have arrested four members of an alleged fraud syndicate involving a Philippines call centre for stealing the banking details of Australian Citibank customers, media reported on Friday.

Australian police allege that a call centre worker collected the banking information, passwords and personal details for the syndicate.

Many Australian based companies use call centres in the Philippines for customer relations operations.

The syndicate allegedly used the customer details to make financial withdrawals and order new credit cards, Xinhua news agency reported.

Authorities arrested the four members -- aged between 23 and 38 -- of the alleged syndicate in two raids in Sydney's western suburbs on Thursday.

The alleged offenders were charged with multiple fraud offenses.

A spokesman for global banking giant Citibank told reporters that it had worked with police to identify those allegedly responsible and that no customer would be "financially impacted".

Australian police mounted the investigation in June when a traffic stop found a number of allegedly fraudulent documents and other "suspicious items" in the vehicle.

Australian police matched these documents to reported frauds against banking customers that Citibank had reported.