Our reporter infiltrates the gang that has punched a hole in banks’ credit card system and is bleeding them dry
Jhol. Rafoo Chakkar. Hera Pheri. Lafda. The city has seen so many scams, we have our own thesaurus for it. Now, young Azhar Tole is the latest addition in the ranks of ingenious scamsters.
The twenty-year-old has found a way to bleed credit-card companies, while promising card holders lucrative cash returns within the span of a few days.His modus operandi is simple: If a debt-ridden credit card holder goes to him, Tole transfers a considerable amount of money – normally around thrice the credit limit – into the credit card account through a false cheque payment.
He then waits for the card holder to intimate him of the SMS that banks send, confirming the receipt of cheque.
Once informed, the Kurla resident – who still retains the card with him for three-four days – goes and withdraws the entire amount. He then pays the card-holder a part of the sum, and retains the rest as part of his fees.
So, at the end of it, the card holder is happy as he gets extra money apart from his outstanding dues being taken care of – that is, till the next month's statement, which shows a higher outstanding, due to the scam. The mastermind, however, literally smiles his way to
the bank.
“According to our preliminary investigation, Tole seems to have exploited a loophole,” said Sachin Khandelwal, ICICI's Senior General Manager, Credit Card Division. “We send SMS alerts to card holders in good faith to inform them that their cheque has been received and the amount credited.
“In case a cheque bounces, we immediately deduct the credited amount. But Tole – who apparently knows of this system – withdraws the money before we can deduct it,” he said. Analytical experts, ICICI officials disclosed, are now scanning all credit card accounts which show unusual transactions. The kingpin, who has a vast network of agents, operates mainly in Kurla, Nagpada, Andheri, Bandra and Byculla.
THE UNDERWORLD TRAILOur undercover reporter trawled through the entrails of the gang in Kurla for days together to unravel the plot and the modus operandi that has sent the banking industry into a tailspin. His first contact was Kamran Abdul Sattar Shaikh - a 20-year-old boy who availed of Tole's services and made a neat Rs 20,000, apart from "paying up" his outstanding dues.
Using his expertise, Tole "deposited" Rs 60,000 in Shaikh's credit card account. He, of course, kept Rs 40,000 as his "fees". Once our reporter gained Shaikh's confidence, promising him he would be saved from a possible arrest, the boy opened up. According to Shaikh, Tole is extremely secretive. He would meet Shaikh at Kurla's Pipe Road (near Balaji Temple) where he usually strikes deals and then vanishes through narrow alleys.Mumbai Mirror, however, tracked down the address of the mastermind to a first-floor flat in Kapadia Building in Kurla (West).
Shaikh, whose original credit card statement is available with us, said: "Tole has never worked with a bank before but has a vast network of contacts among the employees of a number of multi-national banks and carries out his business in collusion with them." "Not only ICICI cards,
Tole can pull off the same trick with credit cards of any bank with the same ease," said Shaikh. Incidentally, Shaikh himself has worked as an ICICI credit card sales executive for two years. According to Shaikh, Tole is also in the business of selling new mobile phones that he buys with the credit card details he obtains from sales executives.BANKS IN A TIZZYOfficials from the
ICICI's risk containment unit (RCU), which monitors huge transactions by credit cards and frauds, reached the area on Friday for preliminary inquiries and have lodged a complaint with the Kurla police.
"It's mind-boggling. Our RCU experts are on the job to crack the case. Since we cannot make arrests or carry out raids, we have lodged a complaint with the police," said Charudutta Deshpande, head of Corporate Communications, ICICI Bank.
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