Noida: Two persons have been arrested for allegedly cloning ATM cards by installing card reading devices and pinhole cameras in kiosks that do not have guards.
Police said the accused — Sachin and Feroz — would buy the cloning equipment online and install them in kiosks across Kulesra, Surajpur, Dadri and Phase 2 areas. That guards were hardly present at these ATMs made their job easier. One of the accused, the cops said, had lost his job during the lockdown and started cloning cards.
The police said the tools that Sachin and Feroz used during the crime included a card reader, a CZRD reader machine and a greenwall card reader. Additional DCP (crime) Elamaran G said the accused had targeted several ATMs across Noida and Greater Noida. “Almost all the kiosks that were targeted didn’t have guards and other such security infrastructure,” he added.
A police officer said the accused would target vulnerable people, such as labourers and the elderly not used to technology, and offer to guide them to withdraw money. “One of them would stand inside the ATM counter and offer to help the person. Once he got hold of the card, he would swipe it in the CZRD reader machine. It will read the ATM card’s details,” he added.
The accused would also fix the greenwall card reader over the socket, where a user swipes his ATM card, while a micro camera system would be placed over the keypad to capture the PIN. The duo would later create duplicate cards and withdraw money from the bank accounts. The accused, the cops said, had been cloning cards ever since one of them lost his job during the lockdown.
Anita Chauhan, the SHO of Phase II police station, said they managed to nab the two after one of them was captured in a CCTV camera installed at an ATM kiosk in Phase II area. A laptop, five ATM card reader machines, 2 CZRD reader machines, 69 blank/used cards and other such equipment have been recovered from the accused along with Rs.2.5 lakh.