Credit card cheat stole data of 30,000 people
Accused of stealing crucial data belonging to at least 30,000 customers of a popular private sector bank, a 31-year-old Mumbai-based cheat has been arrested by the Delhi Police, officials said on Sunday.
Accused of stealing crucial data belonging to at least 30,000 customers of a popular private sector bank, a 31-year-old Mumbai-based cheat has been arrested by the Delhi Police, officials said on Sunday.
Explaining the modus operandi of Raju Tevar, the accused, DCP (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi said the accused used to get his hands on credit card bills by offering a discount to local shopkeepers.
Once he got the bill, he would the card holders’ over the phone, tell them that that their card had been misused and sought their personal details. Armed with the details of the card, he would then misuse it, said Tyagi.
“He is a habitual offender and has been involved in all sorts of crime, from murder to the selling and distribution of pirated CDs,” said DCP Tyagi.
“Tevar and two of his associates, one of whom is suspected to be an employee of the said bank at a branch in Mumbai, had been operating this racket for at least a year and are believed to have accessed crucial data belonging to 30,000 bank customers from a single personal laptop,” he said.
According to the police, Tevar’s arrest followed investigations into a complaint filed by a Connaught Place-based person. She stated that she had received a phone call from a number with the caller claiming that an online transaction not authorised by her had been made by using her credit card.
The caller, according to the complainant, claimed to be a bank employee and asked her to give all the information regarding her credit card so that he could block it and refund the amount.
“Soon after giving her details to the caller, the victim got the message that up to R44,911 had been spent from her card. A case was registered and investigation taken up,” said DCP Tyagi.
The investigating officer assigned to the case was dispatched to Mumbai where field investigations revealed that the fraudulent transaction(s) from the credit card in question had been made to make a payment in lieu of electricity bills to the Maharashtra District Electricity Board company. It was also used at a popular online mobile phone bill payment service provider.
Further investigation revealed that one Raju use to come to collect telephone bills from local shopkeepers posing as agent of the company in the Ambarnath area.
“These shopkeepers used to collect the bills of the local residents for small service charges. Tevar would offer 5% to 10% as a discount to them to get his hands on the details of credit card holders,” DCP Tyagi said.
A detailed study of the pattern and similar transactions made on credit cards issued by the victim bank were collected and studied which confirmed that a single person was involved in all such transactions.
After two months, the police nabbed Tevar from Thane’s Palghar area. He was brought to Delhi on transit remand and has been sent in police custody for eight days after having been produced before a city court.