15 Mumbai cops lose Rs. 2.5 lakh to card cloning

A total of Rs. 15.47 lakh stolen from accounts of 37 customers of Axis Bank; bank officials say impact has been reversed for all targeted accounts.

Fifteen policemen are among the 37 account holders of Axis Bank whose credit and debit cards were cloned and used in faraway countries like Greece to withdraw around Rs. 15.47 lakh earlier this week.

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The bank registered a case in this regard on Friday at the Colaba police station, and said in a statement the defrauded amount has been refunded.

“The data from the cards is believed to have been stolen through skimming [at ATM centres],” deputy commissioner of police (detection) Satyanarayan Chowdhary told HT. Axis Bank is the official banker of the Maharashtra police and maintains salary accounts of all policemen in the city. Sources said the victim cops are mostly from the Mumbai police, while a few are attached to the director general of police’s office in Colaba.

A special team headed by Vinayak Deshmukh, DCP (zone 3), will conduct the probe. “The data was allegedly stolen in April, and money was withdrawn on Tuesday. A case under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the Indian Penal Code has been registered,” Deshmukh said.

DCP (zone 1) Ravindra Shisve, under whose jurisdiction the Colaba police falls, said they are collecting April’s CCTV footage from concerned ATMs. Police said of the Rs. 15.47 lakh stolen, Rs. 2.50 lakh belongs to the policemen.

A spokesperson of Axis Bank said, “A small number of our customers’ accounts (less than 50) have been impacted through transactions at compromised ATMs in Mumbai belonging to multiple banks. We have reversed the impact in all such customers’ accounts with immediate effect. We are undertaking a full investigation and are working closely with law enforcement officials.”