Rupay debit card fraud: Mastermind of gang that cheated foreign nationals arrested, says Police

The police hope Kumar’s interrogation would help them get more details about the network. (Representational Image)

THE MUMBAI Police Crime Branch on Thursday arrested the alleged mastermind of a gang that cheated foreign nationals by using their debit card details. Bengaluru resident R Manoj Kumar (43) was detained at Chennai airport after he arrived from Malaysia. He would be produced at a local court.

“Kumar had been arrested by Chennai Police for a similar offence. He procured bank details of cardholders by paying off people working at service establishments where the cards had been used to make payments. He later allegedly started visiting countries where he procured these details. We are checking if the current trip to Malaysia was for a similar reason,” an officer said.

In June, the property cell of the crime branch had busted a racket allegedly being operated by five persons who duped foreign nationals of at least Rs 30 crore by stealing their bank data and cloning their debit cards. The accused also took a point of sale, or swiping machines, from shops in places frequented by foreign nationals, like Goa, Kullu and Manali, and used the same to swipe the cloned debit cards. Most of those cheated were US and UK nationals, police had said.

“We had been on the lookout for Kumar and another person from Rajasthan who we suspect provided the card details to the other arrested accused. The two then carried out fraudulent transactions and received money for the same,” the officer said.

The police hope Kumar’s interrogation would help them get more details about the network.