Beijing, April 12:

Police have broken up China’s biggest credit card counterfeiting ring and seized 41,000 fake Mastercard, Visa and other cards, a state newspaper reported today.

Police in the southern business centre of Shenzhen arrested four people, including one from neighboring Hong Kong, the China Daily newspaper reported. It rported the gang used credit card information stolen abroad and sold the counterfeits in southern China.

The report didn’t state how many cards the gang was believed to have produced or whether any were sent abroad. But it reported the raid was carried out in collaboration with police in Hong Kong and the nearby territory of Macau. Gangs in southern China are believed to have extensive links with Hong Kong gangs.

Credit cards are a relatively new innovation in China but their popularity is growing quickly. Police Shenzhen seized computers, printers and raw materials, the China Daily reported, citing Xu Wenhai, a police official.

“It is so far the largest fake credit card case that has been uncovered in the Chinese mainland and also one of the biggest cases involving fake credit card production and sales in the world,” Xu was quoted as saying.