Gang of 10 cloned cards of 1,028 people to withdraw more than ₹1 crore, say Mumbai police

A gang of 10 men allegedly cloned cards of 1,028 people, according to a 254-page charge-sheet filed by the Bandra police in a magistrate court on Friday. The police estimated that the gang had cheated people of more than Rs 1 crore.

They unearthed the biggest card cloning racket in May. The data of about 85 banks was stolen but only a few banks came forward to help the police. About 40 first information reports (FIRs) have been registered against the gang in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Palghar.

“The gang withdrew a minimum of Rs 10,000 and a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh, using cloned cards,” said a police officer.

The charge-sheet names eight of the gang, while the rest are wanted. These arrested men are Rizwan Mehboob Ali Sayyed, 43, from Nalasopara; Mushraf Ali Sayyed, 38, from Byculla; Vikas Sahu, 25, from Santacruz; Abdul Ansari, 27, a waiter from Pune; and Khurshid Ansari, 27, Safudin Ansari, 24, Shamim Ansari, 24, and Keshav Reddy, 23 — all waiters from Andheri.

Mushraf was arrested by the BKC cyber police in a card cloning case in 2015 but was granted bail. The eight men are in judicial custody. The police said the accused had splurged the stolen money.

Paramjit Singh Dahiya, deputy commissioner ( Zone IX), said, “The first information report was registered in May after a man lodged a complaint against unidentified people over card cloning .”

The police first arrested Rizwan when he went to Carter road to withdraw money in June. His arrest led to the gang. The police seized eight pocket sized skimmers, one decoder and 50 re-writable cards.

The four waiters from Andheri used to steal card details of their customers who handed over their cards and passwords.

Investigating officer Bhimsen Gaikwad (sub inspector) said, “The waiters also kept an eye on customers while they keyed in their passwords on the swiping machine.” The waiters would hold held the palm-size skimmers below the machine to steal the data, said the police. They then transferred card details to a laptop and then the decoder. The decoder was used to clone cards.