Mumbai Crime Branch busts card cloning group

The gang operated using Russian ICQ app as it is high on privacy

Mumbai Crime Branch busts card cloning group
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The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a group of men who used to dupe foreign nationals by stealing their debit or card credentials. They have also arrested the main accused – Manoj Kumar, who admitted of using Russian app ‘ICQ’ to loot foreigners. Kumar told the police that ‘ICQ’ app is high on privacy and uses a proxy-based channel, concerned security systems and law enforcement agencies cannot reach the culprit.

In June, Crime Branch’s property cell had busted a racket which was allegedly being operated by five people who duped foreign nationals of at least ₹30 crore by stealing their bank data and cloning their debit cards. The police have arrested Jubber Sayyed (30), Hasan Sheikh (40), Faeem Sheikh (30), Abu Bokar (45) and Mukesh Sharma (45).  

On July 12, the police got their hands on Kumar, as he got off a flight from Malaysia at an airport in Chennai. During interrogation, Kumar told the police that he was in touch with five others, arrested from the city, using ICQ.

During questioning, Kumar told the police that he has completed his bachelors in administration and had moved to Malaysia where he worked in a call centre.

As per the officer, he got in touch with a few people who would use skimming devices at shopping malls to steal data from foreign nationals. They used to send Kumar with the card to India, who used to travel from Malaysia to Chennai.

The accused told the police that middle-east cards were in high demand as it had a high credit limit than US cardholders as they had a low credit limit.

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