The East division police have busted a gang of African nationals who used a magnetic card reader to clone debit and credit cards and swipe them to withdraw huge amounts of money illegally. The police have also recovered Rs. 21 lakh from them.

Police said the HDFC debit card of a woman, Payal Mandal, was used for withdrawal of Rs. 94,318. She made a police complaint. Within a span of one week, 11 cases of fraudulent transactions of debit cards of different banks were reported in Banaswadi Police Station. On analysing the statement of accounts of all the complainants, some similarities were found pertaining to the last transaction prior to fraudulent transactions. These lead the investigation team to an ATM in Kammanahalli where the data of all these complainants was suspected to have been compromised (skimming). Further scrutiny showed that the accounts were used by some unknown person through an agent and fake cards were generated and swiped in a travel agency by name VIA.COM

The investigative officer approached VIA.COM located in Bengaluru and collected incriminating evidence which lead to the arrest of Eremhen Smart, a Nigerian national, on January 16 in Bengaluru. The officer recovered Rs. 2.64 lakh and freezed Rs. 2.40 lakh which was in the account of the agent of Smart.

The others arrested are Martin Nsamba of Uganda; Nambooze Jollly; Tinah of Uganda; Kenny of Nigeria; Oloadeji Olayem of Nigeria; and Vikram Rao Nikkam of Bengaluru.

Excerpt from:

Gang arrested for cloning debit cards, stealing money - The Hindu - The Hindu