Police cracks card skimming case, three arrested

Mumbai: The Mulund police has busted a card-skimming racket and arrested three persons who had duped at least 65 customers. The victims were targeted at five separate restaurants, where they had presented their cards for making payments. According to police, many more accused are stated to be involved in the racket.

Two of the accused are waiters, who used to handle the cards of patrons. As many as 64 diners were duped of Rs 7.63 lakh over a period by the accused trio, identified as Tukaram Guddaji, his brother Maruti and Karan Tandon.

Investigators said that the accused cloned the cards and made fake cards to use them for debiting and withdrawing money from other places. The cards belonged to customers in hotels, most of which are located in the western suburbs.

The police began a detailed probe in June, after a person from Vikhroli lodged a complaint stating that Rs 24,000 had been fraudulently withdrawn from his account.

When the Mulund Police’s cyber cell sought details from the bank, they were informed that at least 64 persons had reported similar fraudulent transactions. The police enquired with the hotel and found a common link in Tandon, who had worked at all these places as waiter.

“He was traced to his native place in Madhya Pradesh, and was arrested from there. He had been carrying a palm-sized skimming device in his pocket to steal data,” said Akhilesh Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, zone VII.

Tandon would note the pin number while the customer punched it in and later use the information to withdraw money fraudulently from their accounts.