Two gang members held for duping people, banks of Rs 70 lakh

Two members of a Punjab-based gang were arrested here for allegedly duping over 150 people of their state and several banks to the tune of Rs 70 lakh by acquiring debit and credit card details from them, police said today.
Acting on a tip-off, Naveen Chaddha (30) and Rakesh Kaliya (49), both residents of Ludhiana, were arrested as soon as they landed at Harni airport here on Sunday night, Police Commissioner, E Radhakrishna, told PTI.
They were produced before a local court yesterday which remanded them in 10 days police custody, he said.
As many as 165 credit and debit cards of different banks, four mobile phones and Rs 20,000 cash was recovered from the duo, Radhakrishna said.

During interrogation, Chaddha and Kaliya confessed to cheating SBI, Industrial bank, IDBI, Bank of India, Axis Bank to the tune of around Rs 70 lakh in the last one-and-half years and revealed that four others are part of their gang, he said.
Explaining their modus operandi, the Police Commissioner said the gang members first took details of debit, credit cards, including ATM PIN number, from card holders in different cities of Punjab by telling them that they will receive additional money in their accounts.

"After obtaining the details, the gang members travelled to Panaji, Pune, Ahmedabad and some other cities and withdrew money from various ATM kiosk," he said.

As soon as the transaction was complete, they used to cut off the power supply of the kiosk so that the transaction is not registered in the bank's record. They also ensured that ATM card of one bank is used to withdraw money from another bank's kiosk, the senior official said.
They then used to approach the bank, claiming that the transaction failed due to some technical snag and filed claims. They would then get the amount deposited into their accounts, he said.
City police teams will be dispatched to Punjab, Goa and Maharashtra for further investigations and nab the four other members of the gang, Radhakrishna said.