Hi tech fraud - Credit card users, Be aware

They Would Make Duplicates Of Credit Cards Used By Customers At A Juhu Hotel- TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: The next time you decide to use your credit card on a shopping trip, think again. The Mumbai police have busted a hitech credit card fraud which they believe is the crime of the future. Four gadget-savvy youngsters from Andheri, two of them software engineers, got together to earn a quick buck and ended up ripping off over Rs 3 lakh of citizens' money. The foursome were arrested by the Juhu police on Tuesday. Interestingly, one of the boys was all set to leave for the United States for a job in a well placed computer firm.

According to the police, the mastermind of the gang is 19-year-old engineering student. The boy had read about a magnetic card-reading device which could store data once you swipe a card through it. Data from at least 12 such cards could be stored at a time. The boy realised that if credit cards were swiped though the machine, the personal data of a customer stored on it could be accessed. He then teamed with a friend and ordered the card-reader from USA.

"The boys befriended a waiter at Kings International hotel at Juhu to take their plan ahead. Every time someone ate a meal in the hotel and paid by credit card, the waiter would discreetly swipe it through the magnetic card-reader, which is no more than 6-inches long and can be stored in the pocket,'' as said by the investigating officer.

Once the waiter was done, he would hand over the device to the boy who would download the data from the cards on to his personal computer. The duo would then feed the data into blank cards, available in the grey market. The cards were now ready to be used in shopping malls and theatres, or to withdraw money from an ATM. The boys forged information from more than 22 cards in this manner. The fraud came to light after officials from HSBC bank complained to the police. The cops quizzed customers whose cards had been duplicated and discovered they had all visited Hotel Kings International and paid by credit card. Investigators then caught the waiter who led them tothe four youngsters. Latter the boys found to be as Paul and Kamble and the two other collegians identified as Manoj Chauhan (24) and Mahesh Valani (20), have been remanded to police custody.

So next time please be aware of such frauds while using your plastic money.