Hyderabad: Cases of cloning of credit and debit cards have surfaced in the city again. At least seven people, including techies and advocates, have approached the Cyberabad Cyber Crime police, complaining that thousands of rupees have been filched from their bank accounts in fraudulent transactions.
On inquiry, the banks revealed that the cash was being withdrawn from different places in the country, including Maharashtra.
M. Saurabh Datta, an advocate from Miyapur, lost Rs 35,000 from his ICICI Bank account last week. Bank officials informed him the cash was withdrawn from an ATM in Pune in four transactions.
Advocate Snehal Shirode from Madhapur lost Rs 24,000, also from her ICICI Bank account. This transaction too took place from an ATM in Pune. All victims have approached the police, who have sought a representation from their respective banks.
Cyber Crime police suspects that this is the handiwork of a network of card crooks operating in supermarkets and malls, where customers’ cards are cloned using swiping machines.
“The EDC machines can be used as an instrument to capture the data contained in the debit or credit cards. The data can be also copied to another card using those machines,” said an official from the Cyber Crime police.
Mr Datta and Ms Shirode used their debit cards for routine purchases in malls, supermarkets and grocery shops in the city. Cops suspect that their card data were stolen at one of these places.
In an earlier case of debit card cloning, crooks had used petrol pumps in the city to operate their swiping machines to steal the data. Cyberabad police has started an investigation into the case.
