Bengaluru: Credit card skimming racket busted

BENGALURU: The sleuths from Cyber Crime Division (CID) have busted a credit/debit card skimming racket, which was functioning for the past 14 years, and arrested two people, including a woman. The arrested have been identified as Kiran D.K., 34, resident of Talgattapura and Neeta, 33, a resident of Kasavanhalli. Neeta’s husband Manoj Kumar is the kingpin and is absconding.

Police said during the raid at a a house in Kasavanhalli, they seized large amounts of material used for making duplicate credit/debit cards. They used skimming machines to get the credit card data of the victims and clone them. They used these cards to withdraw money and make purchases.

The material seized from the accused need to be analyzed to ascertain as to how many offences have been committed. The accused’s links with hackers abroad also need to be checked, police added. A special team has been formed to nab Manoj, who is also wanted by Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu police.

Personal background: Manoj Kumar alias Akshay Kumar S/o Rajashekhar, holds a BBA degree and is in touch with hackers abroad. The first case was booked in 2002 by Chennai Police. Later he was also arrested in Mumbai by Maharashtra Police in 2003, where he was convicted and spent a year in jail.

In 2005 he got married and for five years he stayed away from crime. But later he started committing credit card frauds and 3 cases were booked against him in Chennai in 2010. Again in 2011 there were four cases booked against him in Tamil Nadu and he fled to Malaysia. He came to Bengaluru in 2014 and got arrested in the same year. In Dec 2015, Cyber Crime Police had arrested him and his wife for credit card fraud.