A GROUP of people who were charged in connection with dozens of alleged frauds using cloned credit cards in Dundee are unlikely to face criminal proceedings, the Tele can reveal.
A total of seven people — six men and one woman — were charged by police following a lengthy probe by officers into the alleged use of cloned cards to pay for things like council tax bills, parking fines and rent on council houses in the city.
The Tele told last year how the value of the alleged frauds was about £10,000.
Five of those charged were the subjects of reports to the procurator fiscal.
But it’s understood that after considering the circumstances and evidence put forward, prosecutors are not proceeding with cases against the five people who were charged.
The Crown Office could not confirm further details of why the cases were not proceeding, but a spokesman said today: “There are no live criminal proceedings in connection with this investigation.”
It’s believed, however, that proceedings could be raised again should any new information come forward.
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said it would be inappropriate for the local authority to comment.
Police began their probe back in 2012, following a spike in cases of fraud recorded at council premises including its Dundee House headquarters, Dundee East Housing Office, Dundee West Housing Office and offices on City Square.
An investigation by the Tele in 2014 found that there had been at least 34 separate frauds recorded against the council alone in the previous two years.
Of those, 20 were being linked to this particular case.
Officers described their inquiries as “long and protracted”, and by mid-2014, they were still hunting the alleged culprits.
The Tele then told last June how officers had since brought charges against seven people in connection with the investigation.
It was believed that the credit cards may have been cloned using skimming devices at cash machines.
They had allegedly been cloned outwith the UK, but they were no longer being used by the time officers had investigated the case in 2014.