Card fraud takes clients, Metro for ride

A call centre employee in north Delhi was recently nabbed from Tilak Nagar metro station for misusing credit card data of several customers to recharge Metro cards online and then get the DMRC to refund the amount to him in cash.

A call centre employee in north Delhi was recently nabbed from Tilak Nagar metro station for misusing credit card data of several customers to recharge Metro cards online and then get the DMRC to refund the amount to him in cash.

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Balaji, a 23-year-old resident of Uttam Nagar, recharged the cards `1,000 at a time. Police are yet to ascertain the exact amount stolen but the figure could run into lakhs.

The call centre employee, who claimed he wasn’t working alone, used the company to steal credit card details of his customers and in some cases even called some of them, posing as a bank executive, to get the three-digit PIN.

After receiving several irate complaints from people puzzled by the unexpected charges, the banks informed the DMRC — which in turn alerted the CISF.

After examining CCTV footage, Balaji was spotted getting a refund in Tilak Nagar metro station. “His photo was circulated among the intelligence unit of CISF, and on Friday, when he came to claim another such refund, he was caught,” said a senior CISF official requesting anonymity.

Three metro cards were recovered from Balaji. “We have taken him into custody and he has told us the names of his associates,” said Sanjay Bhatia, DCP (railway).