Bengaluru: Five men who allegedly cheated several US citizens by using cloned debit cards have been arrested by the Upparpet police. The police have seized Rs 5.82 lakh cash and other goods worth Rs 25 lakh from them. The accused have been identified as Jai Kumar alias Shyamavelu, 42, Irfan Ahmed, 32, Waseem Sharif, 26, Tajmul Ahmed, 37, and Raghavendra alias Raghu, 33.
The accused were part of a racket that clones debit and credit cards. The accused had links with a man in Mumbai, who provided them a large database of debit cards belonging to many US citizens. The arrested men then prepared cloned debit cards. They had opened bank accounts and obtained card swiping machines from banks, claiming that they were running a business out of City Centaur in Gandhinagar.
“They swiped cloned debit cards and the money was credited into their accounts. As US citizens generally have insurance for their debit cards, they were not even filing police complaints. The accused took advantage and continued to swipe cloned cards. Based on credible information that the accused were leading a lavish lifestyle and there was no information about their profession, they were picked up. When grilled, they revealed their modus operandi,” the police said.
“They told us that the man in Mumbai got details of debit cards through his links with cyber criminals in the US. The gang members shared the money they got from swiping of the cloned cards. We are investigating whether they duped citizens of any other country. We still don’t know how much money they made through these cards,” the police said.
Among the accused, Jaikumar had similar cases against him in Jayanagar, Sampigehalli and Cottonpet. “Earlier he cloned debit cards of Indians. As it landed him in trouble, he changed his modus operandi. The hunt is on for other accused,” the police said.
Apart from cash, five electronic data capturing machines, five mobile phones, two laptops, 15 cloned debit cards and three cars, in all worth around Rs 30 lakh, have been seized from the accused.
