Are you one of those who hands over debit/ credit card to the hotel staff for paying bills? If yes, beware. Your card could be cloned and misused. The Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have arrested the steward of a lounge bar in Mira Road on charges of cloning cards with the help of skimmer machines.
The action followed in response to information provided by officials attached to the Risk Intelligence and Control Wing of the HDFC Bank, who suspected cards of customers were being cloned at a bar in Mira Road. A police team led Police Inspector Vijay Chavhan and Senior Police Inspector Sandip Kadam under the instructions of police commissioner Sadanand Date kept a watch at Hotel Breathe (Little King), a lounge bar located in the Kanakia area of Mira Road, and caught the accused steward Amit Upen Ghosh (20) red-handed as he swiped a debit card on the Point of Sale (PoS) machine which was attached with a skimmer.
Investigations revealed that Ghosh was a member of a card cloning gang who swiped the card in such a manner, that it swiped on the payment machine as well as the skimmer below it at the same time. He then asked for their Personal Identification Number (PIN) and if the customer insisted on punching the number on his/ her own he would keep an eye and memorize the number which he inked it on the duplicate receipt.
The card details were then transferred into a blank card which were used to make fraudulent withdrawals with the help of PIN numbers by his accomplices who are still at large.
“People should be cautious and make sure they don’t share personal information while making any type of payment or financial transactions,” said Kadam. Meanwhile, the police have recovered the skimmer machine and other incriminating material from the possession of the accused who has been booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act, 2000. Further investigations were underway.
