HI-TECH SCAM BUSTED

HI-TECH SCAM BUSTED

Gang Used Chinese Gizmo To Copy Details Of Credit Cards Onto Blank Ones

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

The Oshiwara police in Mumbai have busted a hitech credit card racket which they say is a futuristic crime. A software engineer from New Delhi teamed up with five men to steal data from the credit cards of unsuspecting citizens and copy it onto blank cards, which were then used for shopping in malls. The modus operandi was simple: the credit cards sent by the bank to their customers through were accessed by one of the gang members who worked in a courier company. He would open the packets containing the cards, swipe it on a magnetic card reader before repacking it and forwarding it to the customer. The courier boy, who is reported to be the mastermind, is at large. A magnetic card-reader can store data from at least a dozen credit cards at a time. The card reader, made in China, is a tiny piece of equipment not more than 6 inches long and can be concealed in a pocket. The data from the credit cards is stored on the card-reader. Later, another gang member would download the data from the cards on to a computer. The data was then copied into blank cards, available in the grey market. The cards were now ready to be used in shopping malls and theatres. “We were first tipped-off about the gang’s activities by the vigilance officer, Nayan Bhagdev, of HSBC. Our officers then laid a trap outside Kamdhenu Shopping Centre at Andheri where the gang was to arrive on Saturday,’’ said inspector Dattatreya Sankhe. Six men drove up in an Indica car (MH05 AB 865) and stopped outside the shopping centre. Two of them then alighted and were given a bunch of credit cards by their aides for shopping. “We conducted a search of the car and came across 14 credit cards, 4 blank driving licences, a laptop, pen drive and internet card, Chinese card-reader and data cable, 8 cellphones, 2 driving licences with relevant details and shopping bills from different malls,’’ Sankhe said. The six arrested men were identified as Sameer Dave (26) from Dahisar, Sudhir Naikare (27) from Dahisar, Mahesh Sharma (39) from Virar, Gangesh Pathak (21) from Kandivli, Anand Mishra (26), the software engineer from Delhi, and Harsh Badgujar (24), also from Delhi. Of these, Sharma is a scribe with a local newspaper, Maharashtra Crime Vaarta. The police also seized six PAN cards having the same photograph, but with different names and addresses embossed on it. The police also raided the gang’s den in Bhayandar where fake documents like ration cards, driving licences and PAN cards were being churned out in large quantities. The police arrested two more men—Harshal Kapadia and Harshid Parekh—who used to prepare the documents.