NORTH Wales Police are warning retailers throughout the area about the use of cloned pre-paid credit cards after an incident on Anglesey over the weekend.

On Sunday, a 23-year-old man from the Manchester area was arrested at the Penrhos Retail Park in Holyhead.

The prepaid card in question did not have a chip and pin and when the retailer swiped it, the card did not work. As a result the retailer keyed in the pre-paid credit card number manually and this allowed the payment to go through.

DCI Brian Kearney stated: "Every month, around 220 people in North Wales are victims of fraud, some of which results in the victims being defrauded out of thousands of pounds.

"The individual in this case attempted to purchase a high value Item. On this occasion fortunately the retailer concerned contacted the bank who advised him the credit card was likely to have been cloned and he then reported the matter to police.

"I would appeal to retailers to watch out for individuals making high value purchases on prepaid cards which do not authorise when the retailer swipes the card on the card machine. Please consider contacting your bank prior to manually authorising payments for high value goods when the card does not swipe or have a chip and pin.

“Plastic card fraud compromises personal information from credit, debit or store cards”.

To report a fraud and receive a police crime reference number, call Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.