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Ex-bank employee among 3 who emptied customers’ forex cards, 2 arrested: Police
Police said Sonal, a resident of Paschimpuri and Paras, a resident of Brahampuri, have been arrested. Their third accomplice, Sandeep Ojha from Patna’s Jakariyapur Pahari locality, is on the run.
NEW DELHI: Three men including an ex-employee of a prominent bank illegally accessed details of foreign currency cards issued by the bank and used this information to withdraw money from the cards, police said on Tuesday after two of them were arrested.
Police said Sonal, a resident of Paschimpuri and Paras, a resident of Brahampuri, have been arrested. Their third accomplice, Sandeep Ojha from Patna’s Jakariyapur Pahari locality, is on the run.
In three years, the three suspects had allegedly withdrawn ₹70 lakh from the forex cards.
The cards are mostly used by people travelling abroad to carry foreign currency. It is a pre-paid card and is pitched by banks as an easy, safe and cashless way of carrying foreign currency.
A police officer said they started probing the case after a woman complained to the North District police that someone appeared to have emptied the forex card that she recharged with foreign currency worth ₹11 lakh in Delhi.
Police said the gang used the information made available by the former bank employee to ask the bank’s customer care team to update the phone number and email address linked to the card. Subsequently, the foreign currency was transferred to a new forex card that they got from the same bank and withdrew the money from Hong Kong. Dubai and Bangkok. The money was brought to India via hawala.
