573 fake credit cards seized from duo who cheated shops, malls

A duo who had used fake credit cards to shop for around Rs. 1 crore worth of goods from shops and malls in Mumbai, Thane, Ulhasnagar and Pune was finally caught red-handed by the Ulhasnagar crime investigation unit on Friday.

The police also seized 573 fake credits cards of different banks and the equipment used to make the fake credits cards. Police suspect an international link in the racket and are investigating in that direction, Dr Shivajirao Rathod, DCP, Ulhasnagar said.

“The Ulhasnagar crime investigation unit received a tip-off that the persons involved in the racket would be visiting an electronics goods shop, so they laid a trap at the outlet at Shivaji Chowk, Ulhasnagar-3,” Rathod said.

The police arrested Hitesh Kishanchand Gerela, 20, and Kamlesh Ashoklal Lalsingani, 22, while they were trying to purchase an HP laptop for Rs. 17,990 with a fake credit card of Indian Bank. The police also found 24 fake credit cards on both accused.

From the houses of the accused, police found an embossment machine, scanner, card printers, laptop, ATM card reader, writer machine, IDC machine, 1,250 empty credit cards and cheque books, totally worth Rs. 3.36 lakh.

The main accused Faiz Altaf Raja is absconding. Police said the duo stole credit card and bank data through the Internet. Rathod said, “I appeal to people to be careful while conducting online transactions. He said another modus operandi of the duo was to take security men into confidence and install a scanner or camera secretly in the ATM cabin in order to get a video recording of the PIN being punched into the ATM machine.