Mumbai’s ATM card cloning case: Accused may have tampered other ATMs too, say cops

The police said the passport details of Valentin Ionut Nedelcu, 34 and Bolovan Ion Darias, 32, revealed that the two had come to India on January 24, 2018.

The two Romanian nationals, who were arrested by the MRA Marg police in the Charni Road Axis Bank ATM fraud may have tampered with many other ATM machines in Delhi and Mumbai, suspect investigators.

The two Romanian nationals, who were arrested in the Charni Road Axis Bank ATM fraud may have tampered with many other ATM machines in Delhi and Mumbai. (HT File (Representational Image))

The police said the passport details of Valentin Ionut Nedelcu, 34 and Bolovan Ion Darias, 32, revealed that the two had come to India on January 24, 2018.

They stayed in Delhi and visited many other places in the country. Their passport details also revealed that they had come to India in the past as well. Hence, the possibility of them having indulged in similar frauds before in other parts of the country cannot be overruled, the police said.

“Once we get to know from the banks which of their ATM machines were tampered with, we will check the CCTV footages of those ATM kiosks to look for the arrested duo,” said an officer.

The accused claimed they do not understand English and cops have roped in a translator to interrogate the two. Police are yet to recover the skimming device, cloned cards and spy cameras from the accused. Cops are trying to trace how the skimming devices arrived in the city. They are also trying to get details on other members of the gang who were involved in the scam.

A police team has been dispatched to Delhi, Faridabad (Haryana) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh) to get CCTV footages of the ATM from where the money was withdrawn. Police are also co-ordinating with other units which had arrested the duo in past, so that investigators would get the phone numbers they were using previously. This way their trail can be chalked out and would help the cops to figure out other members of the racket.