Romanian gang of ATM card cloners busted

Romanian gang of ATM card cloners busted

Pune: Three foreign nationals have been arrested by Chatuhshringi police for cloning ATM cards by fixing skimmers at a Pashan-based ATM centre and acquiring financial details of more than 1,000 people. The three-member gang was arrested on Tuesday from Vasai in Thane.

The accused have been identified as Balan Christinel, 45, Lazer Christi, 22, and Irimia Ionut, 26 , all residents of Romania. Police has recovered 54 ATM cards, one skimmer, two laptops, three cell phones and cash amounting to Rs 2,44,000 from the trio.

The incident came to light after a complaint was registered by the Branch Manager of Punjab National Bank located at Pashan. The complainant informed police that since December 11, various customers of his bank have complained about the withdrawal of money from their accounts from an ATM based in Bengaluru.

However, during investigation, it was revealed that someone had cloned the ATM cards of the customers of Punjab National Bank, who have used PNB ATM located at Armament circle, Pashan, in the month of October.

According to the information provided by Chatuhshringi police, on December 15, a police team was dispatched to Bengaluru and visited the ATM centre from where the money had been withdrawn. However, a day later, another police team was dispatched to Vasai in Thane after receiving complaints of withdrawal from the ATM’s over there.

Police informed that from December 11 to 16, accused had withdrawn the amount from the ATM centres in Bengaluru and on December 18 -19, they withdrawn the money from ATM centres in Vasai.

Dayanand Dhomne, Police Inspector, Chaturshringi police station, said, “After our team was dispatched to Vasai, we laid a trap on the information provided by an informer and arrested three foreign nationals. During interrogation, the trio revealed that they cloned the ATM cards of customers who have used PNB at Armament circle in the month of October and started withdrawing money from their account from other locations.

“These fraudsters affixed camera and the replica of card slots manufactured in magnetic strips at the ATM centre at Armament circle and cloned the cards. They got access to the banking details of around 1,030 people and are suspected to have duped 890 out of them,” added Dhomne.

All the accused have been booked under relevant sections of IPC. 

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