Policemen looking for the man who attacked Jyothi Uday in an ATM kiosk on November 19 stumbled on a card skimming racket this week when they questioned a person on suspicion.
The accused was spotted by some plainclothes policemen who have been posted at various ATMs to nab the accused in the November 19 attack. His behaviour while withdrawing money from an ATM aroused their suspicion. On questioning, he told police that his name is Jayadeep Chatterjee (34) and he is from West Bengal. He came to the city six years ago to pursue a course in mechanical engineering, but dropped out.
To their surprise, they found several debit cards on him and many PIN numbers jotted down on a piece of paper.
On questioning, he revealed that he used to buy details of debit and credit cards, such as PIN number, from a website, which charges around $80 for the password and other confidential data.
J.C. Nagar Inspector S. Ramesh Kumar said Jayadeep would collect discount cards issued by malls and supermarkets. He would print a magnetic tape containing stolen data and stick it on one of the cards. Using the modified cards, he would withdraw money from ATMs.
Police say that he may have been doing this for the past two years. They seized Rs 7.8 lakh in cash, a car worth Rs. 8 lakh and an electronic gadget that Jayadeep used to prepare magnetic tapes.
Police suspect that he many have been part of a larger racket with international ramifications. He was placed under arrest on Friday.
They have sought the help of cyber crime experts to investigate the website that sold confidential data. The account in which Jayadeep deposited money as payment for the confidential card data belongs to a multinational bank, police said.
