Puducherry: Two held for withdrawing money through fake ATM cards
What's the story
Puducherry police arrested two people, including an engineer, on charges of preparing fake ATM cards and using them for withdrawing money. The police seized electronic devices, fake ATM cards, Rs. 4 lakh in cash, gold jewels and a few computers and accessories all worth Rs. 31 lakh, according to an official statement released on Thursday.
Information
Special team constituted to nab the criminals
A special team was constituted on instructions from Director General of Police (DGP) S K Gautam. The sleuths attached to the special team were on routine rounds in different parts of the town and its neighborhood to prevent the menace.
Raid
Police received a tip-off regarding the fake ATM cards
A tip-off was received by the team bringing to the notice of the police that some persons have been making fake ATM cards at a computer browsing center in the heart of the town. Acting on the tip-off, the special team conducted a raid at a computer center and arrested two people, Balaji and Jayachandran, with some fake ATM cards and electronic devices.
Fake cards
Accused duo collected ATM cards' data through skimmer machines
The duo used to collect data of ATM cards and the PIN number by fixing skimmer machines and secret cameras at ATMs and make fake ATM cards through MSR (Magnetic Strip Reader) machines. They were allegedly withdrawing money by using the cards prepared by them and also transferred money to their accounts by swiping the fake cards on PoS machines possessed by them.
Cases
Duo had computer centers in and around Puducherry
The police registered cases against the two accused under Sections 468, 471, 379 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and under Section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act. The duo had been running computer centers in and around Puducherry. Balaji, one of the accused, works as a Computer Assistant at Pondicherry University.