Mumbai constable loses Rs 50,000, police suspect his card was cloned

Money got transferred out of the Kanjurmarg resident’s account a few days after he used his card at a supermarket.

A 24-year-old police constable lost Rs 50,000 from his bank account on Wednesday in what appears to be a case of card cloning and online fraud.

Constable Pravin Dabhade, 24, a resident of Kanjurmarg, lost Rs 50,000 on Wednesday.

Constable Pravin Dabhade, 24, a resident of Kanjurmarg, has registered a complaint with Tardeo police station. “He had swiped his card while shopping at a supermarket a few days ago. Then, on Wednesday, he received a message that Rs 50,000 had been debited from his account,” said Sanjay Surve, senior police inspector, Tardeo police station.

The police are investigating whether his debit card details were used for the fraudulent transfer. Officials suspect that data was stolen from his card and cloned on to another card using which money was transferred out later. “The transaction occurred in Delhi. We are investigating if it’s a case of card cloning,” Surve said.

In the past, there have been several card cloning incidents involving waiters in the city. Usually, unsuspecting customers hand over their cards and PIN to waiters, who swipe them on skimmers. There have been some cases where waiters have sneaked a look at the customer’s pin code while he or she was entering it on the swipe machine. But in such cases, mostly customers have handed over their credit / debit cards along with their PIN, making it easy for the waiters to steal data.