2 Jalandhar natives held for cloning ATM cards in Mohali

Tribune News Service

Mohali, July 12

The police have arrested two Jalandhar residents involved in an ATM card cloning fraud. They recovered Rs6.9 lakh, an ATM card skimming device, a micro camera, one laptop, two mobile phones and a smart watch from their possession.

The suspects have been identified as Savej and Rajiv Kumar, both residents of Jalandhar. One of their accomplices, Bimal Mehra, is yet to be arrested.

A case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC and the IT Act has been registered against the suspects at the Phase 1 police station.

Mohali SP (Cyber Crime) Gurjot Singh Klaer said the gang members used to dupe people in ATMs at Phase 1 and Phase 5 where there were no security guards and the machines were outdated. The duo chose Mohali, instead of Jalandhar, to exploit the lax security infrastructure here. The duo used to fix a micro-camera inside the kiosk and attach a skimmer with the ATM to get the password and magnetic code. The money was withdrawn from various locations in Jalandhar.

“Savej is a Bachelor in Computer Applications and Rajiv is MBA (Finance). The duo took the help of “dark net” and also joined various Telegram and WhatsApp groups of fraudsters to learn the nitty-gritty of the crime. They were operating here since December 2020. With their arrest, almost 100 complaints have been solved in the Mohali area,” said Klaer.

Modus operandi

Mohali SP (Cyber Crime) Gurjot Singh Klaer said the gang members used to dupe people in ATMs at Phase 1 and Phase 5 where there were no security guards and the machines were outdated. The duo chose Mohali, instead of Jalandhar, to exploit the lax security infrastructure here. The duo used to fix a micro-camera inside the kiosk and attach a skimmer to the ATM to get the password and magnetic code.