India ranks low even in credit card cloners' rate chart

Illustration/Uday Mohite

In the Malaysian underbelly of card cloning, data comes at a price, determined by the potential victim's passport. The Mumbai Crime Branch found this out after questioning R Manoj Kumar, the mastermind of a recently-busted card cloning scam. While information on Middle Eastern targets is the most expensive at $200-$250, data of Indians is the cheapest - at around $2-$3. The data on Indians is the least expensive because the credit limit on their cards is comparatively less.

Kumar revealed this to the cops after being arrested by the property cell of the crime branch on July 12 from Chennai airport. He'd been living in Malaysia for a while, and was held after a lookout notice was issued against him.

Buy from these gangs

As per sources, Kumar said that the highest rate would be paid for card data of people from the Middle East at around $200-250, while anything between $10-15 would be paid for US nationals. Data of Indians was the cheapest at $2-3, because of the low credit limit on the cards.

Sources said Kumar told them that he used to buy the information from these gangs, which was used to target tourists in Malaysia through skimmers in ATMs. After buying the details, Kumar would send them to his gang members in India, who would copy the same onto blank cards and transfer money from foreign bank accounts into theirs in India.

Officials said the gang would swipe these cloned cards at machines procured from shopkeepers. Apart from using the data sent by Kumar, the gang also targeted tourists in Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Kullu-Manali, officials said, adding the money withdrawn might run into crores of rupees.

Card-cloning mastermind R Manoj Kumar was arrested on July 12

Probing links overseas
Deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Dilip Sawant said Kumar had given them certain links overseas that they are probing, "We're also investigating whether he sold card data to any other gang in India."

Kumar's arrest came after cops held five of his accomplices to whom he'd send the stolen card data via e-mail. The five have been identified as Mohammed Hasan Eqbal Shaikh, 44, Mukesh Raju Sharma, 40, Zuber Nissar Sayed, 35, and Abu Bakar Shaikh Ghanvilkar, 45, all Mumbai residents, and Fahim Bashir Shora from Jammu and Kashmir, arrested by a team comprising police inspector Santosh Gaikwad, Dheeraj Koli and assistant police inspector Laxmikant Salunke.

Also Read: Thirty arrested for cheating SBI credit card holders of Rs 5 crore

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