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ATM card cloning: Punjab Police zero in on Mohali brewery’s missing staffer
Police also said they feared a large number of people could have been affected by the ATM card cloning.
The cyber crime unit of Punjab police on Monday questioned the management and waiters of a microbrewery in Mohali,The BrewMaster, where it’s suspected that debit and credit cards of 11 persons were cloned and used for withdrawal of Rs 6 lakh from ATMs at Mohali and Kharar on August 3.
One employee’s involvement in the crime is suspected as he used to swipe the customers’ cards at the microbrewery and has reportedly gone missing, police said.
Police also said they feared a large number of people could have been affected by the ATM card cloning.
Acting on complaints by HDFC officials that the cards had been cloned at a microbrewery in Phase 5, police officials investigating the case said they questioned the manager and other staff members of The BrewMaster on Monday .
Station house officer, cyber crime, Samarpal Singh told Hindustan Times that the mobile dump of the area (any calls or text messages received or made from a specific point) had been taken to get more clarity on how the cards were cloned and who all are involved in the fraud.
‘Number of cases expected to rise’
“ We are expecting the number card cloning cases to rise significantly as our investigation shows that a large number of people have been affected, especially of ICICI bank. We have written to SBI, Canara, HDFC and ICICI to minutely scan the (fraudulent) transaction details and give us the exact number of people affected by this fraud,” he added.
“Questioning of staff members revealed that one employee managing the counter of the brewery had not been reporting for duty for the past four weeks,” deputy superintendent of police (DSP) cyber crime Balwinder Singh said.
“He’s from Uttar Pradesh and is suspected to be involved in cloning the cards as he used to accept payment from customers after swiping the ATM cards at the brewery,” the DSP added.
Even though the employee’s involvement in the card cloning case had not been proved, BrewMaster management has been asked to look for him and share his address and other details with the police.
About 11 persons had on August 3 had reported withdrawal of cash totalling about Rs 6 lakh from their HDFC and ICICI bank accounts through cloned credit and debit cards at ATMs located in Phase 5, Mohali and Kharar.
HDFC bank officials identified Phase 5 as the area where their customers’ account numbers and card details had been compromised.
“The bank officials after tracking the card transactions made by the culprits through cloned cards zeroed in on the Phase 5 area. Every transaction made through the cloned card can be tracked and located by the bank concerned,” Samarpal Singh said.
The investigating officers of cyber crime unit say skimming devices are used for cloning of cards. The August 3 case is likely to be the handiwork of a gang that’s withdrawing money from different ATMs across the district.
