This is another reminder of how important it is to be vigilant in your awareness of your credit status. Many credit report mistakes are the result of errors in reporting etc. However, credit card fraud can wreak havok on your credit report, and if left unaddressed can ruin your credit perminantantly.

This story from the Associated Press relates the recent arrests of a suspected credit card fraud ring operating out of Mardid, Spain, but perpetrating the fraud on US credit holders.

Madrid — Spanish police, working with U.S. authorities and Swiss police, arrested 23 persons on suspicion of international credit card fraud, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

Investigators believe the suspects, from Canada, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Spain, stole financial and personal information from U.S. citizens and companies and then copied it onto fake cards of “exceptional quality.”

According to police, suspected ringleaders in Singapore masterminded the theft of information — mainly from one U.S.-based company’s files — by enlisting computer hackers in Russia and Ukraine.

Spanish card-makers then put the stolen data onto magnetic strips on cards bearing near-perfect holograms obtained from suppliers in Singapore and Malaysia.

Finished cards were then used to make fraudulent purchases throughout Spain, with suspects sometimes returning goods to retail outlets demanding a return of cash and even claiming tax back on goods bought, the statement said.

Goods fraudulently purchased, including jewellery, perfumes and mobile phones, were also sold at reduced prices.

Police searched 11 homes in Madrid and seized 21 computers, money in three different currencies, 1,482 credit cards as well as fake passports and driver’s licences, the statement said.