Gang used skimmers to steal data of 134 ATM cards, 3 held

  • | Thursday | 19th October, 2017

"The police have issued notices to seven banks, urging them to deploy security guards and installing an apt monitoring system for CCTV footage, besides ensuring regular checks at their ATM kiosks," he said. "One of the suspects would access the data sent by the skimmer and footage of the pinhole cameras to make duplicate cards. Four others are on the run.Police identified the arrested suspects as Karan Meher Sonar (38) and Boby Ugochukwe (58), both from Mira Road, and Earl Andrew Ernest Lawrence (37) from Vasai in Thane district. They used the internet to secure ATM card details through the online mode.The police said two of the suspects travelled to Pune in their car. Ugochukwe came to India on a business visa.Hiremath said the gang preyed upon unmanned ATM kiosks in Koregaon Park, Pune railway station, Magarpatta area, Appa Balwant chowk and Budhwar Peth over the past three months for skimming ATM cards of unsuspecting users.

PUNE: The cybercrime cell of the Pune crime branch has busted a gang which stole data of 134 ATM ctards from 11 kiosks using electronic skimmers as well as pinhole cameras and withdrawing Rs 60 lakh with duplicate cards over the past three months.The gang would target unmanned ATM kiosks.Three suspects from Thane district, including a Nigerian national, have been arrested. Four others are on the run.Police identified the arrested suspects as Karan Meher Sonar (38) and Boby Ugochukwe (58), both from Mira Road, and Earl Andrew Ernest Lawrence (37) from Vasai in Thane district. Sonar was arrested from an ATM kiosk in Koregaon Park on October 8. The other two were arrested on October 15."Ugochukwe is a Nigerian and claims to be working as a priest in the Mira Road area," said deputy commissioner of police (cyber and economics) Sudhir Hiremath on Wednesday . Ugochukwe came to India on a business visa.Hiremath said the gang preyed upon unmanned ATM kiosks in Koregaon Park, Pune railway station, Magarpatta area, Appa Balwant chowk and Budhwar Peth over the past three months for skimming ATM cards of unsuspecting users. "The police have issued notices to seven banks, urging them to deploy security guards and installing an apt monitoring system for CCTV footage, besides ensuring regular checks at their ATM kiosks," he said. A crack team of cyber crime sleuths, headed by inspectors Radhika Phadke and Manisha Zende and sub-inspector Sachin Gawate, was on the trail of the suspects after a surge in complaints about money being withdrawn from ATM kiosks in Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat, Daman , Kolkata and other places despite the victims being in possession of their ATM cards and not having shared any sensitive details about them with anybody.An analysis of the bank statements of the victims revealed that they had used their cards before the culprits struck, prompting the police to inspect the ATM kiosks they had used. The police found that almost all these kiosks had no guards.After securing CCTV footage and identifying suspicious activities, the police laid a trap and arrested the suspects.Sonar's interrogation revealed that the suspects had secured an ATM machine card swipe slot similar to the ones on the ATM units in the target ed kiosks. They used the internet to secure ATM card details through the online mode.The police said two of the suspects travelled to Pune in their car. After selecting a machine, they would fit the skimmer kit on the card slot of the machine and pin the cameras near the keypad on the machines. "The suspects did not employ SIM cards to the skimmer but would use Wi-Fi devices to transmit the data to a cloud server," the police said."One of the suspects would access the data sent by the skimmer and footage of the pinhole cameras to make duplicate cards. The suspects based in other parts of the country would withdraw money from the victim's account hours later," Hiremath said.

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