The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : 3 held on credit card swindling charge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

3 held on credit card swindling charge

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JULY 18. Three persons charged with purchasing goods worth Rs. 1.39 lakh with `duplicate' credit cards from various shops in Hyderabad were arrested by the Hyderabad police Task Force officials on Sunday.

The trio, S. Ramesh, Mirza Javed Ali and Syed Waheeduddin Quadri, had bought eight credit cards of international banks from one Ganesh by paying Rs. 40,000. "It appears Ganesh is part of a credit card racket allegedly being operated from various South East Asian countries," the Task Force Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, N. Srinivas, told The Hindu.

Asked if the trio was connected to the two persons, suspected to be Malaysians and arrested by the Panjagutta police in the last week of April on similar charges, Mr. Srinivas said the matter was under investigation. Their modus operandi involved copying the `Electronic Code Data' stored on the magnetic strip of the credit or debit or ATM card using a skimmer that has special computer software and re-encode it onto a fabricated card.

The gangsters, police say, get hold of genuine cards of unsuspecting travellers, by colluding with the staff of some hotels where customers present genuine cards. While swiping the card, the card is also skimmed for its data. The data copied is then stored onto another card.

The Additional DCP said a native of Chennai, Manoj, was arrested by the Hyderabad Detective Department in June, 2003 on charges of operating a credit card. "There is possibility of this trio, Manoj and Ganesh being connected. Our special party went to Chennai to nab Ganesh," he added.

Ganesh trained Ramesh, a native of Tamil Nadu, in using the credit cards. Subsequently, Ramesh ganged up with Ali of Bangalore, working as duty officer in Dubai airport and Quadri of Hyderabad. Initially, they tried to purchase some goods at Bangalore using the fabricated cards, but did not succeed. Later, they came to Hyderabad on July 4 and began to purchase goods from various shops in Hyderabad. Jewellery and five mobiles, all worth Rs. 1.34 lakh and Rs. 31,500 in cash, were seized from them.

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