ATM cloning gang busted in Azamgarh

LUCKNOW: Azamgarh Police has busted a gang of cyber criminals who were not only stealing the money of gullible debit/credit card holders but causing a major dent to the banking sectors.

Two people identified as Suraj Yadav (25) and

Sujeet Yadav

(28) was arrested on a surveillance input from Tarwan police station area on Saturday.

The accused had bought a card reader and skimmer from online shopping websites. Suraj and Sujeet owned a common service center (CSC), which helps in getting e-service of government. They used to target people who used to come to this center and made payment through their cards.

These devices like-card reader, writer and skimmer can be bought from Amazon, e-bay or Indiamart by paying Rs 35,000. These devices were misused by Suraj and Sujeet to copy the data of credit/debit cards of the customers who used their common service center, said the police.

Explaining the modus-operandi, Azamgarh Superintendent of Police Triveni Singh said the accused had the franchise of CSC and a micro-ATM (swiping machine).

"Customers visiting to get the government's service were targeted and their cards were cloned. They got access to their

ATM

pin by recording their password by installing a secret camera," said Singh.

First the accused used to copy card data on blank cards. Cloned cards were then sent to cities like Mumbai and Pune from where money was withdrawn. Card cloners used to get 25 % commission of the total amount withdrawn, said the officer.

Azamgarh police have found 5,000 data from the customer. Cops are now going to write to National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) for mapping of such crimes.