Credit card blues: Cops unearth Rs 1-cr fraud
Unearthing a major credit card fraud, the Crime Branch of Pune police
have arrested a gang of four persons for cheating people and creating
duplicate credit cards. The gang is alleged to have cheated over 30
customers of Hotel Le Meridien to the tune of Rs 1 crore, according to
the police.
The gang was headed by 24 year-old Asif Zaidi Mirza of
Borivli, Mumbai, who though only a HSC pass, is technically quite
savvy. Among the other accused, Wasim Salim Patel (21) of Sainik Nagar
in Yerwada was a cashier at Chingari Restaurant in Hotel Le Meridien.
The other two accomplices were identified as Ubed Ajmat Sayyad (26) of
Mumbai East and Bharat Tansukhbhai Soni (28) of Goregaon, Mumbai.
Senior
police inspector Sunil Pawar said the accused had been stealing the
credit card details of the Le Meridien customers with the help of
devices like “credit card skimmer” and “credit card reader” that they
had purchased from a Nigerian national for Rs 60,000.
“When a
customer gave credit card for paying the hotel bill, Patel used to
swipe the card using the skimmer whereby the credit card details were
recorded for later use,” said Pawar.
“The accused then copied these
details on the magnetic strips of blank or blocked plastic cards using
computer technology. In this manner, they prepared at least 33 credit
cards of 27 multinational and international banks. These credit cards
were circulated among the gang members, who used it for shopping costly
items,” he said.
“The fraudsters were mostly targeting customers
having platinum, gold and corporate credit cards who have credit limit
of about Rs 15 lakh in India,” Pawar added.
The fraud came to light,
when Sunil Nade (33), manager of Financial Resource Management (FRM)
division of Citibank’s East Street branch lodged a complaint with the
Bund Garden police station a few days back.
Nade and three of his
bank customers had gone to Hotel Le Meridien on May 7 for dinner during
which time the accused Soni, Asif and Ubed were also present.
The
police suspected that when Nade gave the credit card for making the
payment, the cashier Patel either stole the credit card details himself
or passed these cards to his accomplices for the purpose. Then they
used the duplicate card for shopping goods worth Rs 10 lakh.
Nade
and the other three bank customers were shocked when they came to know
that such a huge amount was withdrawn from their account without
consent between May 7 and June 13. And they approached the police.
Acting
on a tip-off, the crime branch sleuths first nabbed Soni at Mumbai.
Later, they arrested Asif, Ubed and Patel. Police have seized the
skimmer, credit card reader, laptop and 20 duplicate credit cards.
Investigations
revealed that Patel was working at the hotel for last three years.
Asif, the gang leader, was taking as his cut 50 per cent of the money
made from the fraud. “It is very easy to identify a duplicate credit
card. Still some shop owners have allowed shopping through such cards.
We suspect that fraudsters paid some part of their income through the
racket to the shop-owners,” said Pawar, whose was assisted in the
investigation by sub inspectors N V Avhad and R M Gaikwad.
When
contacted, Jaswinder Narang, General Manager of Le Meridien said that
police had apprehended Patel about three days back. “Police have not
communicated with us later. Also, we have not received any complaints
from the customers,” he said.
have arrested a gang of four persons for cheating people and creating
duplicate credit cards. The gang is alleged to have cheated over 30
customers of Hotel Le Meridien to the tune of Rs 1 crore, according to
the police.
The gang was headed by 24 year-old Asif Zaidi Mirza of
Borivli, Mumbai, who though only a HSC pass, is technically quite
savvy. Among the other accused, Wasim Salim Patel (21) of Sainik Nagar
in Yerwada was a cashier at Chingari Restaurant in Hotel Le Meridien.
The other two accomplices were identified as Ubed Ajmat Sayyad (26) of
Mumbai East and Bharat Tansukhbhai Soni (28) of Goregaon, Mumbai.
Senior
police inspector Sunil Pawar said the accused had been stealing the
credit card details of the Le Meridien customers with the help of
devices like “credit card skimmer” and “credit card reader” that they
had purchased from a Nigerian national for Rs 60,000.
“When a
customer gave credit card for paying the hotel bill, Patel used to
swipe the card using the skimmer whereby the credit card details were
recorded for later use,” said Pawar.
“The accused then copied these
details on the magnetic strips of blank or blocked plastic cards using
computer technology. In this manner, they prepared at least 33 credit
cards of 27 multinational and international banks. These credit cards
were circulated among the gang members, who used it for shopping costly
items,” he said.
“The fraudsters were mostly targeting customers
having platinum, gold and corporate credit cards who have credit limit
of about Rs 15 lakh in India,” Pawar added.
The fraud came to light,
when Sunil Nade (33), manager of Financial Resource Management (FRM)
division of Citibank’s East Street branch lodged a complaint with the
Bund Garden police station a few days back.
Nade and three of his
bank customers had gone to Hotel Le Meridien on May 7 for dinner during
which time the accused Soni, Asif and Ubed were also present.
The
police suspected that when Nade gave the credit card for making the
payment, the cashier Patel either stole the credit card details himself
or passed these cards to his accomplices for the purpose. Then they
used the duplicate card for shopping goods worth Rs 10 lakh.
Nade
and the other three bank customers were shocked when they came to know
that such a huge amount was withdrawn from their account without
consent between May 7 and June 13. And they approached the police.
Acting
on a tip-off, the crime branch sleuths first nabbed Soni at Mumbai.
Later, they arrested Asif, Ubed and Patel. Police have seized the
skimmer, credit card reader, laptop and 20 duplicate credit cards.
Investigations
revealed that Patel was working at the hotel for last three years.
Asif, the gang leader, was taking as his cut 50 per cent of the money
made from the fraud. “It is very easy to identify a duplicate credit
card. Still some shop owners have allowed shopping through such cards.
We suspect that fraudsters paid some part of their income through the
racket to the shop-owners,” said Pawar, whose was assisted in the
investigation by sub inspectors N V Avhad and R M Gaikwad.
When
contacted, Jaswinder Narang, General Manager of Le Meridien said that
police had apprehended Patel about three days back. “Police have not
communicated with us later. Also, we have not received any complaints
from the customers,” he said.
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