Two held for preparing fake ATM cards

Police arrested two people, including an engineer, on charges of preparing fake ATM cards and using them for withdrawing money from ATM kiosks.

The police seized electronic devices, fake ATM cards, Rs 4 lakh in cash, gold jewels and a few computers and accessories all worth Rs 31 lakh, according to an official statement released here today.

A special team was constituted on instructions from Director General of Police (DGP) S K Gautam.

The sleuths attached to the special team were on routine rounds in different parts of the town and its neighbourhood to prevent the menace.

A tip-off was received by the team bringing to the notice of the police that some persons have been making fake ATM cards at a computer browsing centre in the heart of the town, the statement said.

Acting on the tip-off, the special team conducted raid at a computer centre and arrested two people -- Balaji and Jayachandran -- with some fake ATM cards and electronic devices.

The duo used to collect data of ATM cards and the PIN number by fixing skimmer machines and secret cameras at ATM centres and making fake ATM cards through MSR (Magnetic Strip Reader) machines.

The two men were allegedly withdrawing money by using fake ATM cards prepared by them and also transferring the amount to their accounts by swiping fake ATM cards on POS machines possessed by them, the statement said.

The police registered cases against the accused under Sections 468, 471, 379 read with section 34 of the Indian Penal code (IPC) and under Section 66 C of Information Technology Act. The duo had been running computer centres in and around Puducherry.

Balaji, one of the accused, is working as Computer Assistant in Pondicherry university.