Gang of three clones cards of 64 diners to withdraw ₹7.63 lakh in Mumbai, arrested

The con was uncovered because all the 64 victims had accounts in the same private bank

The Mulund police arrested three people for carrying out a card-cloning fraud that robbed at least 64 people of ₹7.63 lakh collectively. The con was uncovered because all the 64 victims had accounts in the same private bank and had swiped their cards at one of four city eateries where one of the accused worked as a waiter.

Skimmers recovered by police.

According to the police, Karan Tandon, 28, who worked as a waiter, would keep palm-size skimmers in his pocket and use it to steal data from debit or credit cards given by customers. When a credit or debit card is swiped through a skimmer, the device extracts the details stored in the card’s magnetic strip. “Tandon would note down the ATM pin and the time of the card swipe on the piece of paper used by him to take orders. The time in the skimmer device would then be matched to the time he wrote on the paper along the ATM pin,” said DCP Akhilesh Kumar Singh.

The data from the skimmers was transferred to Tandon’s accomplice, Tukaram Gudaji in Belgaum. Gudaji used the data to clone cards and then used them to withdraw cash from different ATMs in Karnataka. Gudaji’s brother Maruti also withdrew cash using these fake cards.

Tandon was picked up on July 31 from Madhya Pradesh and the Gudaji brothers have also been arrested. A case has been filed under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating) and IT Act.