2 held for withdrawing money from bank through cloned cheques

Two members of gang allegedly involved in withdrawing money from bank accounts through cloned cheques have been arrested by the Special Task Force of Uttar Pradesh Police.
Shamshaad and Moinuddin were arrested from the Gomti Nagar area yesterday, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Amrendra Sengar told reporter here today.
He said five cheque books, seven cloned cheques, 63 used cheques and other items were recovered from the accused.
The IG said the arrests were made following complaints regarding illegal withdrawl of money from banks in Lucknow and adjacent districts through cloned cheques.
He said the accused have said they, with help from bank employees, would obtain a used cheque.

Through this cheque, they would find out the account number, branch, sample signature and other details of the account holder, he said.

The accused would then open an account in the same bank using fake name and address and obtain passbook, cheque book and ATM card.
Later, the accused would remove the name of the account holder, account number and MICR code from their cheques with some chemical. They would then prepare cloned cheque bearing name of the account holder, account number and MICR code of the used cheque and withdraw money.
The official said the accused disclosed that they were involved in this crime for the past two years and some people from Lucknow, Allahabad, Kanpur, Madhya Pradesh and different districts of Maharashtra helped them.