Chembur resident loses Rs98k to card fraud

Money withdrawn from an ATM at Mhape while the insurance official was on holiday in Lonavla

In what appears to be a case of card cloning, a man from Chembur lost Rs98,000 even though the card was on him.

A screengrab from a Byculla ATM security camera footage shows the suspect making a withdrawal.

The victim, Kunal Luthra, a branch manager with an insurance company, was holidaying with his family in Lonavla on October 1. Around 11.58pm, Luthra received a text message stating Rs18,000 has been withdrawn from his account. After midnight, he received six other messages and a total of Rs98,000 was withdrawn.

“All transactions happened within a few minutes. The fraudster used the card at 11.58pm as there is a cap on cash withdrawal from ATM for a day. He then withdrew the remaining amount post-midnight. I saw the seven text messages at 3.30am,” said Luthra.

He then got in touch with the bank officials to get the card blocked. “The bank told me the transactions were made from Mumbai. I was shocked as I was sitting in Lonavla,” said Luthra.

After returning to Mumbai, Luthra registered a case at the Chembur police station. “The police said the card was used at an ATM kiosk at Mhape,” said Luthra.

The Chembur police said they are looking at all angles. “We suspect the involvement of an insider. We have asked the bank to provide us the CCTV footage but they have told us their data has been corrupted,” said SR Trimukhe, sub-inspector, Chembur police station.

A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.