Mumbai:
The Versova police on Sunday arrested a young Borivli-based couple who had taken to financing their lavish life style by running a credit card scam syndicate with the help of their Nigerian accomplices.
The duo was arrested from near Kamdhenu shopping centre when they had gone there in an Accent car to shop with fake credit cards. The police team of around six people apprehended them and seized a laptop, a data code writer, an embossing machine, numerous fake credit cards of private banks, a couple of mobile phones and other accessories from the car.
The duo has been identified as Chirag Wadhwan, 24, and Alpa Sundaram, 20, both residents of Borivli. They met while working together in the loan processing unit of a private bank in the city a few years ago.
Preliminary investigations by the police have revealed that the two were deeply in love, but their families were opposed to the union. Hence, with the dream of getting married and purchasing their own house, the couple entered the world of crime about two years ago. However, they are not married yet.
Explaining their modus operandi, deputy commissioner of police MM Prasanna said that a Nigerian national, Johnson Namjarian, 25, who has also been arrested, would provide them with the data about credit card holders, which he would skim through phishing websites. "The information would be passed to the couple through e-mail or cell phone," added Prasanna.
The couple, who would drive around the city in their car, would duplicate the information onto another card within minutes. First, with the help of a laptop the data would be passed into a data code writer, through which it would get stored in the fake credit cards. "The card would then be embossed with the name and other details," said another police officer.
The duo would then go to a nearby shop or a mall and purchase large quantities of white goods with the fake card. They would be later sold off at a cheaper rate in the black market. The money earned through the scam was then divided with the Nigerian on a 40:60 basis.
Police officials said that the couple has rented a spacious flat in a posh locality in Delhi and have been living a life of luxury with the swindled money.
Copyright restricted. Under license from
www.3dsyndication.com