International gang under watch for selling stolen credit details

A city-based gang of skimmers used their services through the dark web

Published - July 18, 2021 01:13 am IST - CHENNAI

Credit/debit card details are stolen by skimming ATMs and phishing attacks.

Credit/debit card details are stolen by skimming ATMs and phishing attacks.

An international gang has come to the notice of the police for selling stolen credit card details through the dark web to a city-based gang. The gang used virtual currency through a cryptocurrency exchange operating from India for buying the stolen data.

Following the recent arrest of a gang — Lala Chandan, 32, and Praveen Kishore 30, natives of Tiruchi, and Sikkander Badusha, 37, of Begampet, Dindigul — for skimming, the cyber crime cell in Adyar seized skimmer devices and cards from them, and came to know of a wider network.

The prime accused had adopted a modus operandi to make money from identity theft.

Sources said they were downloading stolen credit/debit card details online from a website with cryptocurrency, which is not legal tender.

Global scale

“Unknown cyber criminals upload details of stolen cards from across the globe onto a website on the dark web. Through this, anyone can download from anywhere by paying cryptocurrency,” a police officer said. “

“It is an international network of shady businesses. The cyber criminals are selling data, such as credit card numbers with CVV details. Criminals on our side buy them for the bitcoin equivalent of $17 or $18. Since they have to pay in cryptocurrency, they receive them from an exchange in India after paying local currency. There is a need for bringing in stricter laws for cryptocurrency exchanges. Since, money transactions happen virtually, they are not under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India, and there is no way a law enforcement agency can get a hold of the data,” an officer said.

“If we block the present IP of the shady operator, they will run their services on another IP. The card details are being stolen by skimming ATMs, compromising security credentials and phishing voice calls, and all this data are put up for sale at a single point. If a card belonging to an European national is stolen this way and used here, where will he/she go and complain? Such cases are challenges for law enforcement agencies,” a senior police officer said.

Modus operandi

The police identified the Indian cryptocurrency exchange and the credit card website used by the trio. After downloading the data, the gang programmed blank cards using a writer machine, and used them to steal money through ATMs and point of sale machines at different outlets.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Adyar, V. Vikraman said, “We are taking all-out efforts to bring those involved to book. People should be cautious when using credit cards. They should not reveal CVV details, and should not have it written down or stored as cookies.”

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