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Beware of cams! Your ATM PIN secrecy at risk

2 foreigners held for installing pinhole cameras at kiosks.

Bengaluru: A Romanian and Hungarian, who had installed pinhole cameras above the keypad and card slot reader in ATM machines and stole credentials of thousands of debit cards, have been arrested by the Cyber Crime Division police of the CID.

The accused have been identified as Dan Sabin Cristian, 40, of Romania and Mare Janos, 44, of Hungary. The duo had come to India, from UK to Bengaluru, on September 1 on tourist visa.

According to the police, a cash loading team found a suspicious device fitted in the ATM machine of Kotak Mahindra Bank on M. G. Road on September 6, but they filed the complaint on September 12. It was found that a skimmer and a miniature camera were installed on the ATM in an intelligently concealed way so as not to raise any suspicion. The CCTV footage of the ATM kiosk was verified.

“The police also got information that similar devices were fitted to the same bank's ATM at the international airport. As the equipment recovered from M. G. Road ATM and the one installed at the airport ATM were similar, a team kept a continuous watch from noon on September 12 to nab the culprits when they come to collect the devices," said H. C. Kishore Chandra, DGP (CID) at a press conference.

Kishore Chandra, DGP, CID, Special Units and Economic Offences and C.H. Pratap Reddy, ADGP, CID explain the modus operandi of the ATM fraud in Bengaluru on Friday  	Photo:DCKishore Chandra, DGP, CID, Special Units and Economic Offences and C.H. Pratap Reddy, ADGP, CID explain the modus operandi of the ATM fraud in Bengaluru on Friday Photo:DC

“Around 10 am, two suspects came near the airport ATM and they looked similar to those who installed the cyber crime devices at M. G. Road ATM. As the team watched them, they moved around and ascertained that the skimming devices installed were still available. The surveillance team observed that the accused, after a brief survey of the surroundings, grew suspicious and without retrieving the skimming device and camera, decided to leave in a taxi. The police rushed and nabbed both,” the DGP added.

“They revealed that they are part of an organised criminal gang and are working with their associates living in UK. The accused Cristian and his associate travelled to India with the sole purpose of stealing credentials of Debit/Credit cards from ATM users. They carried equipment for skimming of cards from ATM machines and installed skimming devices in various ATMs across the city, captured the data and the PIN through pinhole camera, stored the information in memory cards and downloaded the data to the laptop. They revealed that the data will be shared with their gang and they monetise the stolen credentials," said C.H. Pratap Reddy, ADGP.

The accused allegedly intended to compromise large number of customers in India and thus decided to target ATMs in high footfall areas. The data downloaded is in encrypted form using certain crime ware and is transferred between gang members through peer to peer communication channels, the police added.

They were initially staying at Curzon Court on M. G. Road and when found that the skimming devices installed at M. G. Road ATM was not there, they feared that police would come looking for them and shifted to RG Royal Hotel and Convention Hall in Mahalakshmi Layout. When the investigating team searched the room, skimming devices, laptops, hard disk etc were found.

Spray painting was used to create the exact colour matching the ATM colour, and fast dryer was used to see that the paint is dried immediately to camouflage and match the panel to the colour of the ATM, the police said.

The police have seized three skimming machines, three mobile phones, two passports, a laptop and hard disk, memory card readers, memory cards, pin hole camera panel and other tools.

The accused had booked the return tickets on September 19 and investigations are underway to know whether they had transferred the stolen credentials to their associates in UK.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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