SWINDON is being targeted by international credit card crooks intent on exploiting the town's economic success, detectives warned today.

Police have arrested a gang of six who are alleged to have stolen more than £100,000 with 26 counterfeit cards used more than 2,000 times.

The men, from Swindon and London, are aged between 20 and 25 and have been charged with offences of deception. Two others are wanted by police.

But detectives believe the arrests are just the tip of the iceberg.

They have set up a special Swindon Financial Investigations Unit to look into credit card crime and warn retailers and customers of the dangers of counterfeits in the run up to Christmas.

The force is the first in the country to mount such a campaign and is liaising with Gloucestershire, Avon and Somerset, Thames Valley and Dorset police forces who all believe the gang has also been operating.

Officers say the fraud is part of an international conspiracy which has roots as far afield as Russia and Pakistan.

Detective Sergeant James Vaughan, Head of the Unit, said: "This investigation has made us aware that counterfeit credit cards are a national and international problem and the police in Swindon have taken a stance against it."

Nationally, credit card fraud increased last year by 90 per cent.

It starts with criminals in restaurants or shops swiping customers' credit cards when they pay for goods through a 'skimming machine', a box which stores the cards' data on microchip. These details can then be transferred on to new magnetic strips by computer and sold on. Elsewhere blank cards and holograms are produced at various factories around the globe and imported to the UK. They then go to a criminal gang's factory in the UK which has bought the magnetic strips. These factories punch the card numbers and names into the plastic, completing the product.

A victim's credit card can be reproduced between 50 and 100 times in this way. Six cards were seized as a result of the recent arrests on November 16.

Police are also warning people to beware of using credit cards over the internet as disreputable companies can steal data this way too.

Anyone who has any information or suspicions about any card crime is asked to call the Unit on Swindon 528111.