Crime Branch arrests 3 men for ‘duplicating’ customer’s debit cards at Inorbit Mall
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Mumbai Police Crime Branch have arrested three men working at Inorbit Mall in Malad for stealing and misusing customer’s debit card data.
The theft came to light after Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abhay Shastri, received a tip-off about two men employed at the amusement park in Inorbit Mall. The informer revealed that the employees were copying customer’s debit card data illegally.
After the tipoff, Shashti, along with a dozen officers from the Crime Branch visited the mall and raided the kiosk. During the raid, they found around 15 blank debit cards with the two employees, identified as Rahul Vinkar and Sachin Singh. The employees were immediately taken into custody.
A senior police official said that the accused disclosed their ‘high-tech’ modus operandi during interrogation.
He stated, “First, the trio purchased a Magnetic Card Reader (MRC) from the internet for Rs 20,000-25,000. When a customer would come to the kiosk to make a payment, they would swipe his card in the merchant’s machine first. Then, when the customer is entering the PIN, they would make a note of it. Before handing the card back to the owner, they would swipe it on the MRC and save a copy of the card’s data.”
“Once the data was saved, they would purchase blank cards from specialised dealers and copy the data on to it. The PIN numbers were also written down for later use,” he added.
According to an official, the accused would avoid making larger transactions via the stolen cards to avoid suspicion.
The gang leader, who has been caught for similar thefts in the past, is still on the run. However, officials are sure that he will be caught soon.
