Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram: Bank customers have once again become victims of data skimmed from their debit cards. The Muvattupuzha police busted a five-member gang who stole debit card details of victims by using a skimming machine and made duplicate cards using that information to steal money from bank accounts. Those arrested were identified as Jinto Joy of Chalakudy, Assi, a native of Kottayam and his brother Ahamadmon, Sharuk, from Ambalapuzha, and Manu Joly of Palluruthy in Ernakulam.
According to cops, the accused earlier used to work as cashier and receptionists in hotels and shopping malls among others. “They developed an illegal card reading machine and used to install it in swiping machines of the enterprises and steal personal information in the debit cards of customers. They then use the stolen data to create counterfeit cards that were used to steal ATM cash,” police said. The cops seized the machine and card writer purchased by the gang online to make the duplicate debit cards.
“They were arrested following a probe into the complaint lodged by a Muvattupuzha native who lost Rs 1.5 lakh. The victim had earlier visited a hotel where one of the accused was working as a receptionist. Once they made the duplicate debit card, they withdrew the amount from an ATM in Coimbatore. We’re awaiting more complaints,” police said. According to them, Jinto Joy, the kingpin of the gang, was arrested earlier in connection with various other crimes and had even served a jail term.
Meanwhile, in Thiruvananthapuam, nearly Rs 56,000 was skimmed from an assistant professor’s salary account in the SBT’s Pattom branch, from China’s Fijuan province, which is in the far-eastern end of the country. The account holder, Ms Aswathy, is assistant professor in NSS College, Niramankara. Only '10,000 was withdrawn from an ATM in Fijuan. The rest of the money was taken as part of some kind of purchase, as these amounts were withdrawn using a Point of Sale machine, the kind that accepts money in business establishments. The withdrawals had taken place on September 5 and 6. The SBT was quick to announce that the lost money would be returned to the account holder by September 19.
Unlike in the earlier cases, Ms Aswasthy had not received any SMS messages about the withdrawals. “The theft was noticed only when she went to an ATM to withdraw some money on September 8,” a police source said. The mini statement that she extracted from the ATM showed that more transactions had taken place from her salary account on September 5 and 6. She immediately informed the bank, and the bank statement too revealed that a total of '55,754 was taken out of her account. Ms Aswathy registered a complaint with the Medical College police station. The police authorities said that the information had been handed over to the 40-member team that is now probing the earlier ATM fraud involving Romanian citizens.
