Colombian jailed for using fake ATM cards to steal money from bank

Last Updated on Friday, 25 September 2015, 21:11 by GxMedia

A former Colombian soldier was Friday jailed for 10 years for using a fake Visa Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) card after he was found guilty of 23 counts of simple larceny.

Freddy Riveria Vargas, who told police that he is a former Major in the Colombian army, was found guilty of using the fake Visa cards to withdraw monies from ATMs at several Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) locations.

The sentence was handed down after he changed his plea to guilty. In all, he was sentenced to two five year terms which will run concurrently so in all he would only spend five years in a Guyanese jail.

The crimes were committed between Saturday, July 18, 2015 and Tuesday, July 21, 2015.

The court was told that a number of the bogus cards were retained by the ATMs and the man was arrested and charged after surveillance footage was reviewed by police.

Vargas, who entered Guyana legally via Lethem on July 17, 2015, told the court that he used information sent via email to programme the blank cards for use.

He said 60 fake cared were in possession of the police, but one the investigators said 168 of the cards were collected.

The 42 year old Colombia man said a Venezuelan was also expected to benefit from the proceeds of the