The accused arrested by city police here last week on the charge of skimming ATM cards have told the police that they sourced cameras and other materials from an online portal
The police suspect the involvement of an organised gang in skimming of over 60 ATM cards in Mangaluru, Kasaragod , Chennai, Kochi, Goa, and Delhi, which came to light following the arrest of four persons.
A team of city police, led by Inspector P.D. Savitru Tej on February 24 arrested Gladwin Jinto Joy, 37 of Thrissur, Dinesh Singh Rawat, 44 from New Delhi, Abdul Majeed, 27, from Kasaragod, and Rahul T.S., 24, from Alappuzha on the charge of their involvement in skimming 22 ATM cards in the city. The accused are also suspected to have skimmed some ATM cards in Udupi too.
Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Hariram Shankar said Joy, the prime accused, has given the name of the portal from where he has got the spy camera, batteries, memory cards, and other materials for skimming by paying around $700.
“Not just the technical and software knowledge, skimming requires specific skills. We suspect association of the accused with organised gangs that that are involved in skimming of ATM cards across the country,” Mr .Shankar said.
Cases of skimming ATM cards were getting filed in the cyber crime police in Mangaluru since November, 2020.
The accused were inserting scanning device in the ATM machine where the customers inserted their ATM cards. That scanning device was secretly connected to a battery and a memory card from where they used to collect the data of the ATM cards inserted by the customers. Flaps connected with spy camera had been placed around the keypad to catch the PIN number while customers were entering it to draw the money.
Mr. Tej said the accused took around five minutes to place the devices in the early hours of the day at the ATMs that did not have security guard. The scanning device and other devices were being removed a day later.
The city police are investigating whether the accused have sold information about the ATM cards on the dark web, Mr .Shankar added.