The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Seven held for credit card fraud

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 28, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Seven held for credit card fraud

Staff Reporter

Chennai: Seven persons, including an employee of a courier firm, who allegedly run up bills worth Rs. 1.07 lakh on a credit card that was to be delivered to a customer have been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police.

Police were acting on a complaint from Blue Dart Courier Service representative A Raguraman.

According to investigators, HDFC Bank in Chennai had issued a new credit card to one of its customers, Venkatnarayanan, a resident of Mumbai and sent it through the courier company.

As the addressee was out of station, the packet containing the card was sent back to the bank at Chennai. However, the bank found the card missing. Following this, it immediately alerted the courier company, which lodged a police complaint.

Assistant Commissioner (Bank fraud wing) M. Paneerselvam said they found that bills of Rs. 1.07 lakh had been run up on the card; the bank however, honoured payment to the merchant establishment.

“When we questioned the merchant establishment at Vyasarpadi, its owner pleaded ignorance about the fraud and maintained that someone had purchased a refrigerator, an air-conditioner and other goods whose cost totalled Rs 1.07 lakh,” he said.

Police said that an employee C. Balaji of the courier company had taken the credit card. Along with his friends, he allegedly ran up charges on the card.

They went to a showroom in their locality and in connivance with the shop owner R.S. Joshi (56) and his son Raju (25) allegedly committed the crime. While Balaji and his friends shared Rs 80,000, the other two had taken Rs 27,000, police said.

Cases registered

Police have registered cases of cheating and other offences under the Indian Penal Code. The seven were produced before a city court.

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