The Bengaluru East division police have arrested a gang of seven who were stealing debit card data after tampering with an ATM in Kammanahalli.
They had allegedly installed a card-skimming machine to capture sensitive data, which they would then use to clone cards and make purchases. Six members of the gang hail from Nigeria and Uganda, while the seventh is a 40-year-old man from Bengaluru, the police said.
The racket came to light last week when a person approached the Banaswadi police complaining of an unauthorised transaction amounting to ₹94,318 on her debit card. During the next few days, the police were flooded with similar complaints from many others in the area, with 11 cases booked in a span of a week, a police officer said.
The police analysed the transactions and found a pattern. A majority of the cards were used at one particular ATM in Kammanahalli. Bank statement accounts showed that the transactions were being made through an agent. “We also found that the cloned debit cards were generated by a travel agency in Bengaluru,” a police source said.
The police approached the agent, through whom they identified the prime accused, Ermhen Smart, 23. Subsequently, all the other gang members were arrested.
The accused are said to have purchased a skimming machine and a magnetic card reader, and used them in both Goa and Bengaluru. A team from Bengaluru went to Goa, where they found one of the accused, Nambooze Jolly.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Ajay Hilori said that according to Jolly’s statement, the gang got rid of the skimming machine by throwing it into a lake in Dharwad. Efforts are on to recover it, the officer said.
The police also said efforts are on to nab more people involved in this scam.
