CCB nabs two for swindling money

CHENNAI: In a breakthrough in the case pertaining to swindling of money through credit cards of a West Mambalam resident, the anti-bank fraud wing of the Central Crime Branch arrested two middlemen from New Delhi. The suspects were identified as Atul Kumar of Johripur and Kunal of Ghaziabad.The incident happened in January and the CCB had launched an investigation based on a complaint filed by the victim, Govindraj.

Police sources said that scammers had posed as bank staff and sought details of credit cards and OTPs from Govindraj in the name of offering gifts. Soon after Govindraj shared the details, the money was swindled from two of his cards. One of the officers who was part of the eight-member team that camped in New Delhi and made the arrests told Express that the scammers had used Govindraj’s credit cards to pay electricity bills of consumers in the national capital.

The details of the power consumers were being provided to the scammers by the two middlemen for a 15 per cent commission.The officer said that the duo received cash from consumers claiming to pay the bills, kept their commission, and gave the rest (85 per cent) of the amount to the scammers, who made the payments through credit card details they stole from unsuspecting people. “The entire process was formulated to secure the identity of the middlemen and fraudsters,” the officer said, adding that making direct payments would sound the death knell for their shady activities.  The team is hoping to nab others involved in phone frauds.